tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973Sat, 03 Mar 2018 16:14:34 +0000BirdsBirdingResearchReptilesAmphibiansVideoHerpingBlogPet herpsHerp of the dayVenezuela - Masaguaral 2008HumorInvertebratesSystematics and TaxonomyMammalsBird of the DayEvolutionConservationBPR3Bird OdditiesHabitatKenyaFishBehaviorChurchillMigrationField BiologyOrnithology ClassChileCornell Herpetological SocietyFlorida - Archbold 2009Social issuesWeatherFossilsMuseumAudioCosta RicaCrested GeckosBooksNative AmericanaOrchidsArtQuizBiological Ramblingshttp://slybird.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (slybird)Blogger372125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-8978756015362590856Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +00002011-01-29T21:46:16.029-05:00BirdsSystematics and TaxonomyGulls, Part 1The word “gull” probably has the ability to elicit the widest range of emotion among birders and non-birders alike of any bird name. To some birders, “gull” means woe and misery, but to others, it means joy and excitement. To the average non-birder, gulls, or “seagulls,” are a nuisance, “flying rats” that steal food at picnics and eat garbage at the dump. It's also probably one of the few groups that has some of the most sought-after rarities, along with some of the most common “trash” birds.<br /><br />But, what is a gull? Gulls are part of the order Charadriiformes. Within this large, diverse order, the gulls (part of the family Laridae) are part of the suborder Lari. The Laridae is sister to the skuas/jaegers (Stercorariidae) and the auks (Alcidae). These families are in turn sister to the Crab Plover (Dromadidae) and coursers/pratincoles (Glareolidae). In the Lari, the button quail (Turnicidae) are sister to the rest of the group (Baker <span style="font-style: italic;">et al</span>. 2007, Pereira and Baker 2010).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Rhinoptilus_cinctus_-near_Lake_Baringo%2C_Kenya-8.jpg/800px-Rhinoptilus_cinctus_-near_Lake_Baringo%2C_Kenya-8.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Rhinoptilus_cinctus_-near_Lake_Baringo%2C_Kenya-8.jpg/800px-Rhinoptilus_cinctus_-near_Lake_Baringo%2C_Kenya-8.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Hueglin's (Three-banded) Courser (<span style="font-style: italic;">Rhinoptilus cinctus</span>) (Source: Wikipedia)<br /></span></div><br />Within the family Laridae, the gulls are related to the terns and skimmers. While the exact relationships of the gulls relative to the terns and skimmers has not been completely resolved, a recent in depth phylogeny shows the gulls as sister to skimmers, which are in turn sister to most of the terns (Baker <span style="font-style: italic;">et al</span>. 2007). In this study, the noddies (<span style="font-style: italic;">Anous</span>) and white terns (<span style="font-style: italic;">Gygis</span>) fall outside of the “tern” clade, and are sister to the entire group of gulls, terns and skimmers. Other recent studies have found conflicting results to Baker <span style="font-style: italic;">et</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">al</span>. (2007), instead finding the terns as sister to the skimmers, which are then in turn sister to the gulls (Fain <span style="font-style: italic;">et al</span>. 2007), or with the gulls and terns as sister, which are then in turn sister to the skimmers (Ericson <span style="font-style: italic;">et al</span>. 2003). In a phylogenetic study of the terns, Bridge <span style="font-style: italic;">et al</span>. (2005) found the terns to compose a monophyletic group. However, this may not reflect the true phylogeny, as the outgroup (Ring-billed Gull) may have been forced, forcing a monophyletic Sterninae (more on tern phylogeny in another post).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="file:///Users/Shawn/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/moz-screenshot.png" alt="" /><img src="file:///Users/Shawn/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/moz-screenshot-1.png" alt="" /><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Common_Noddy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Common_Noddy.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Brown Noddy (<span style="font-style: italic;">Anous stolidus</span>) (Source: Wikipedia)<br /><br /></span><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_E5uf0AiTz0k/SmvLGEiTmnI/AAAAAAAAD2o/oVz0Nrq8voU/s640/Long-tailed%20Jaeger%2011Jun09_5959.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_E5uf0AiTz0k/SmvLGEiTmnI/AAAAAAAAD2o/oVz0Nrq8voU/s640/Long-tailed%20Jaeger%2011Jun09_5959.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Long-tailed Jaeger (<span style="font-style: italic;">Stercorarius longicauda</span>), June 2009, Churchill, MB (photo by Jay McGowan)<br /><br /></span><a href="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs138.snc4/37228_405075231036_505661036_4172469_7352460_n.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs138.snc4/37228_405075231036_505661036_4172469_7352460_n.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Parasitic Jaeger (<span style="font-style: italic;">Stercorarius parasiticus</span>), July 2010, Churchill, MB (photo by Andy Johnson)</span><br /></div><br />Within the Laridae, the species level relationships have not been well-resolved. However, the phylogeny been found to consist of several well-supported clades, which renders the traditional <span style="font-style: italic;">Larus</span> (<span style="font-style: italic;">sensu lato</span>) paraphyletic with respect to several of the long-held “unique” genera. This has left two main options, 1) place all gulls in the genus <span style="font-style: italic;">Larus</span>, losing the long recognized unique genera of <span style="font-style: italic;">Rissa</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Pagophila</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Xema</span>, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Rhodostethia</span>, or 2) break up the traditional <span style="font-style: italic;">Larus</span>. Based largely on the phylogeny of Pons <span style="font-style: italic;">et al</span>. (2005), the AOU and other organizations chose the later, and split up the large and bulky genus Larus into several smaller, distinct genera.<br /><br />While sampling is not extensive, Baker <span style="font-style: italic;">et al</span>. (2007) recovered different results from Pons <span style="font-style: italic;">et al</span>. (2005) with respect to basal relationships. Baker <span style="font-style: italic;">et al</span>. (2007) found that the Swallow-tailed Gull was sister to Ross’s Gull, which were in turn sister to a clade that includes Sabine’s Gull, Ivory Gull, the kittiwakes, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Larus</span>.<br /><br />I’ll briefly go through the main highlights (using the “new” genera) of Pons <span style="font-style: italic;">et al</span>. (2005), moving from most basal to most derived.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Gull%20Phylogeny/GullPhylogeny.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Gull%20Phylogeny/GullPhylogeny.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Figure 1 from Pons <span style="font-style: italic;">et al</span> (2005) showing the phylogeny of the gulls based on mitochondrial DNA sequence data. Note the old names are used in the figure. Click on the figure to make it larger.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Swallow-tail_gull_%28Creagrus_furcatus%29_-Espanola_-Punta_Suarez.jpg/800px-Swallow-tail_gull_%28Creagrus_furcatus%29_-Espanola_-Punta_Suarez.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Swallow-tail_gull_%28Creagrus_furcatus%29_-Espanola_-Punta_Suarez.jpg/800px-Swallow-tail_gull_%28Creagrus_furcatus%29_-Espanola_-Punta_Suarez.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Swallow-tailed Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">Creagrus furcatus</span>) (Source: Wikipedia)</span><br /><br /><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_E5uf0AiTz0k/SkKATnLR1GI/AAAAAAAADaw/iFGVosftwUA/s800/Sabine%27s%2C%20Little%2C%20%26%20Bonaparte%27s%20Gulls%206Jun09_1806.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_E5uf0AiTz0k/SkKATnLR1GI/AAAAAAAADaw/iFGVosftwUA/s800/Sabine%27s%2C%20Little%2C%20%26%20Bonaparte%27s%20Gulls%206Jun09_1806.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Mixed flock containing Bonaparte's Gulls (<span style="font-style: italic;">Chroicocephalus philadelphia</span>), Sabine's Gulls (<span style="font-style: italic;">Xema sabini</span>), and Little Gulls (<span style="font-style: italic;">Hydrocoloeus minuta</span>), June 2009, Churchill, MB (photo by Jay McGowan)</span><br /><br /><a href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4250.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4250.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Mixed flock, including Brown-hooded Gulls (<span style="font-style: italic;">Chroicocephalus maculipennis</span>), Franklin's Gulls (<span style="font-style: italic;">Leucophaeus pipixcan</span>), and Kelp Gulls, January 2010, Chiloe, Chile<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>(<span style="font-style: italic;">Larus dominicanus</span>) </span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_E5uf0AiTz0k/SHLD-WatesI/AAAAAAAABf8/YgH6frwuF58/s640/Ross%27s%20Gull%20Weir%20Rd.%2C%20Churchill%2C%20MB%2010Jun08%206137-12.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_E5uf0AiTz0k/SHLD-WatesI/AAAAAAAABf8/YgH6frwuF58/s640/Ross%27s%20Gull%20Weir%20Rd.%2C%20Churchill%2C%20MB%2010Jun08%206137-12.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Ross's Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">Rhodostethia rosea</span>), with a Bonaparte's Gull, June 2008, Churchill, MB (photo by Jay McGowan)<br /></span></div><br /><ol><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Creagrus</span> – 1 species, Swallow-tailed Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">C. furcatus</span>), endemic to the Galapagos. A truly unique gull, and partly nocturnal, it spends much of its time far from land. The Swallow-tailed Gull has been found to be sister to the rest of the gulls.<br /></li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Rissa</span> – 2 species, Red-legged (<span style="font-style: italic;">R. brevirostris</span>) and Black-legged Kittiwakes (<span style="font-style: italic;">R. tridactyla</span>). Both species are colonial nesters, nesting along cliff and rock ledges. The Black-legged Kittiwake is widespread, while the Red-legged Kittiwake is restricted to the Bering Sea. Both are largely pelagic during the non-breeding period. The two kittiwakes are sister-species and are in turn sister to two other species, the Sabine's Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">Xema sabini</span>) and Ivory Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">Pagophila eburnea</span>)<br /></li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Xema</span> – 1 species, Sabine’s Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">X. sabini</span>), a gull breeding in the arctic and sub-arctic, and spending the non-breeding period far from shore. A striking gull, it’s forked tail and bold wing pattern make it stunning bird in all plumages. The Sabine's Gull is sister to the Ivory Gull.<br /></li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Pagophila</span> – 1 species, Ivory Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">P. eburnea</span>), a gull that spends nearly its entire life in the arctic and along the edges of the pack ice of the far north, this beautiful species is a much sought after species of southern latitudes, and may be suffering due to changes to its Arctic habitat due to global climate change. The Ivory Gull is sister to the Sabine's Gull, which are in turn sister to the kittiwakes.<br /></li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Chroicocephalus</span> – 11 species. This is a well-supported clade of relatively small, mostly hooded gulls. The North American boreal breeder, Bonaparte’s Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">C. philadelphia</span>) is sister to Slender-billed Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">C. genei</span>). These two species are sister to the rest of the genus. The remaining <span style="font-style: italic;">Chroicocephalus</span> form a weakly-supported clade, to which Andean Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">C. serranus</span>) is basal. The Brown-hooded Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">C. maculipennis</span>) is sister to the remaining members of the clade. Within this clade, Hartlaub’s Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">C. hartlaubii</span>) is sister to Grey-hooded Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">C. cirrocephalus</span>). These two species are sister to Black-headed Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">C. ridibundus</span>) and (<span style="font-style: italic;">C. brunnicephalus</span>). These four species are in turn sister to a group of three Australasian gulls, with Black-billed Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">C. bulleri</span>) being most closely related to the Red-billed Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">C. scopulinus</span>) and Silver Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">C. novaehollandiae</span>).</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Saundersilarus</span> – 1 species, the <a href="http://www.arkive.org/media/9E/9ECC1CE3-A089-4257-B762-ABC4F3AEB722/Presentation.Large/Saunders-gull-walking-along-mud-flat.jpg">Saunder’s Gull</a> (<span style="font-style: italic;">S. saundersi</span>), is found only in East Asia, where it is threatened with habitat destruction. This species is not closely related to any other gull, and its relative position in the phylogeny is not well-resolved, possibly due to its long branch on the tree.<br /></li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Rhodostethia</span> – 1 species, the Ross’s Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">R. rosea</span>), is a breeder in Arctic Russia, Canada, and Greenland, is a sought after bird when it ventures to southern latitudes. This species put Churchill, Manitoba on the map in terms of birding, as the most accessible location in the world to see this bird on its breeding grounds. While no longer reliable (seen in June 2008 once, and not at all in 2009 or 2010 while I was in Churchill), many people still travel there every June hoping to see this beautiful gull. Pons <span style="font-style: italic;">et al</span>. (2005) proposed to lump <span style="font-style: italic;">Rhodostethia</span> into <span style="font-style: italic;">Hydrocoloeus</span> based on strong genetic and morphological support. While it has been accepted that Ross’s and Little Gulls are sister species, the AOU chose to retain Ross’s Gull in its own monophyletic genus. The Ross's Gull is sister to the Little Gull. However, the relative position of these two species with respect to the rest of the phylogeny of gulls is not well-supported.<br /></li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Hydrocoloeus</span> – 1 species, the <a href="http://www.birdingworld.co.uk/images/LittleGull3956adj.jpg">Little Gull</a> (<span style="font-style: italic;">H. minutus</span>), is fairly widespread in Eurasia, and breeds in small pockets in North America. This bird is sister to Ross’s Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">Rhodostethia rosea</span>), and shares a suite of morphological and behavioral characters.</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Leucophaeus</span> – 5 species; an entirely New World group of gulls. This clade appears to be sister to the remaining two genera of gulls, the <span style="font-style: italic;">Ichthyaetus </span><span>and <span style="font-style: italic;">Larus</span>. Within the genus, </span> the Grey Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">L. modestus</span>) is sister to the bizarre and intriguing Dolphin Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">L. scoresbii</span>). These two South American species are sister to the remaining three species, with Franklin’s Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">L. pipixcan</span>) being most closely related to the Lava Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">L. fuliginosus</span>) of the Galapagos, which are in turn sister to the Laughing Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">L. atricilla</span>).<br /></li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Ichthyaetus</span> – 6 species; an entirely Old World radiation of gulls. This clade is sister to the large and confusingly specious <span style="font-style: italic;">Larus</span>. None of the relationships within this group are well resolved. The topography within Pons <span style="font-style: italic;">et al</span>. (2005) places the Mediterranean Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">I. melanocephalus</span>) as sister to the rest of the genus, which includes Audouin’s Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">I. audouinii</span>), Relict Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">I. relictus</span>), White-eyed Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">I. leucophthalmus</span>), Great Black-headed Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">I. ichthyaetus</span>), and Sooty Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">I. hemprichii</span>).</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Larus</span> - the rest... the dreaded “large, white-headed” gulls (LWHG) of the genus <span style="font-style: italic;">Larus</span>. Within the genus <span style="font-style: italic;">Larus</span>, the “black-tailed” gulls, which includes Belcher’s Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">L. belcheri</span>) and Black-tailed Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">L. crassirostris</span>), form a distinct clade that is sister to the remaining LWHG. The rest of the juicy details about this messy genus will be coming in later posts.<br /></li></ol><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_E5uf0AiTz0k/SHLC5cGjvlI/AAAAAAAABYQ/scEvYzBs5to/s800/Black-legged%20Kittiwake%20immature%20Launch%20Road%2C%20Churchill%2C%20MB%204Jun08%205178-37.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_E5uf0AiTz0k/SHLC5cGjvlI/AAAAAAAABYQ/scEvYzBs5to/s800/Black-legged%20Kittiwake%20immature%20Launch%20Road%2C%20Churchill%2C%20MB%204Jun08%205178-37.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Black-legged Kittiwake (<span style="font-style: italic;">Rissa tridactyla</span>), J</span><span style="font-size:85%;">une 2008, Churchill, MB</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> (photo by Jay McGowan)</span><br /><br /><a href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4939.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4939.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Ivory Gull, February 2010, Rouses Point, NY (<span style="font-style: italic;">Pagophila eburnea</span>)<br /><br /></span><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_E5uf0AiTz0k/SkKAWQaFfCI/AAAAAAAADbA/2efILAiBoCc/s800/Sabine%27s%20and%20Bonaparte%27s%20Gulls%206Jun09_1829.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_E5uf0AiTz0k/SkKAWQaFfCI/AAAAAAAADbA/2efILAiBoCc/s800/Sabine%27s%20and%20Bonaparte%27s%20Gulls%206Jun09_1829.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Mixed flock containing Bonaparte's Gulls (<span style="font-style: italic;">Chroicocephalus philadelphia</span>) and Sabine's Gulls (<span style="font-style: italic;">Xema sabini</span>), June 2009, Churchill, MB (photo by Jay McGowan)</span><br /><br /><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Larus_melanocephalus_aka_Mediterranean_Gull_rare_guest_in_Sweden2.jpg/781px-Larus_melanocephalus_aka_Mediterranean_Gull_rare_guest_in_Sweden2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Larus_melanocephalus_aka_Mediterranean_Gull_rare_guest_in_Sweden2.jpg/781px-Larus_melanocephalus_aka_Mediterranean_Gull_rare_guest_in_Sweden2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Mediterranean Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">Ichthyaetus melanocephalus</span>) (Source: Wikipedia)</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">And, finally, here is a taste of what is to come...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Gull%20Phylogeny/IMG_3783.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Gull%20Phylogeny/IMG_3783.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Heermann's Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">Larus heermanni</span>), September 2009, Pacifica, CA<br /><br /></span><a href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Gull%20Phylogeny/IMG_0339.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Gull%20Phylogeny/IMG_0339.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Thayer's Gulls (<span style="font-style: italic;">Larus thayeri</span>), June 2009, Churchill, MB (see this <a href="http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/02/gulling-in-churchill-larophiles-dream.html">post</a> for more on these Thayer's Gulls and other gulls of Churchill)<br /><br /></span><a href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Gull%20Phylogeny/IMG_0576.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Gull%20Phylogeny/IMG_0576.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Glaucous Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;">Larus hyperboreus</span>), with Herring Gulls (<span style="font-style: italic;">Larus argentatus</span>), June 2009, Churchill, MB</span><br /></div><br />References:<br /><br />Baker, A.J., S.L. Pereira, T.A. Paton. 2007. Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of Charadriiformes genera: multigene evidence for the Cretaceous origin of at least 14 clades of shorebirds. <span style="font-style: italic;">Biology Letters</span> 3: 205-207<br /><br />Bridge, E.S., A.W. Jones, A.J. Baker. 2005. A phylogenetic framework for the terns (Sternini) inferred from mtDNA sequences: implications for taxonomy and plumage evolution. <span style="font-style: italic;">Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution</span> 35: 459-469<br /><br />Ericson, P.G.P., I. Envall, M. Irestedt, J.A. Norman. 2003. Inter-familial relationships of the shorebirds (Aves: Charadriiformes) based on nuclear DNA sequence data. <span style="font-style: italic;">BMC Evolutionary Biology</span> 3(16)<br /><br />Fain, M.G. and P. Houde. 2007. Multilocus perspectives on the monophyly and phylogeny of the order Charadriiformes (Aves). <span style="font-style: italic;">BMC Evolutionary Biology</span> 7(35)<br /><br />Pereira, S.L and A.J. Baker. 2010. The enigmatic monotypic crab plover <span style="font-style: italic;">Dromas ardeola</span> is closely related to pratincoles and coursers (Aves, Charadriiformes, Glareolidae). <span style="font-style: italic;">Genetics and Molecular Biology</span> 33(3) 583-586<br /><br />Pons, J.M., A. Hassani, P.A. Crochet. 2005. Phylogenetic relationships within the Laridae (Charadriiformes: Aves) inferred from mitochondria markers. <span style="font-style: italic;">Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution</span> 37: 686-699<br /></div></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"></p>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2011/01/gulls-part-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-1431660342810420787Thu, 23 Dec 2010 23:30:00 +00002010-12-23T18:11:31.893-05:00What is that annoying buzzing sound?After a period of dormancy on the blog, I finally have a little bit of time to write a few more posts. This is one of the last of the Churchill posts, and hopefully soon I'll be able to write about some new topics.<br /><br />No recount of fieldwork in Churchill, Manitoba can be complete without some horror story of the bugs. While I was lucky during the 2009 season with abnormally cool temperatures, no such luck was had during the 2010 season. The mosquito density was just unreal. No amount of bug spray can protect you... I've been told that insect repellent does make a dent in the mosquitoes trying to bite you... instead of 5,000 mosquitoes trying to bite you, bug spray makes it so that a mere 3,000 are attacking you. In the end, the people who work in Churchill just don't find poisoning themselves with bug spray worth it. On the bright side, there are no diseases that mosquitoes carry in the far north!<br /><br />During field work, we would have to be completely covered from head to toe. This involved wearing head nets, long sleeves, and, most importantly, gloves. Thin gloves were essential, especially when we had to take field notes. In addition, when dealing with blackflies, it was extremely important to tuck pants into socks, gloves into sleeves, and shirts into pants, since blackflies crawl into tight spaces and will find their way into the tiniest hole to bite you. When all covered and prepared, I usually avoided mosquito bites in the field completely. I usually ended up getting more bites in the Study Centre or in the car.<br /><br />Now, words can only do so much to describe the bug density. For the rest, I will let my pictures show the horror.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3084.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3084.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3085.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3085.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">A large flock of mosquitoes.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3089.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3089.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Gloves are important.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3137.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3137.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3380.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3380.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Mosquito carnage. In the top image, I got 72 in one swat of my hand. I can't remember how many we got in our field notebook, but it was well over 100.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3080.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3080.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Yours truly, doing veg surveys, with a small cloud of mosquitoes around my head.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5650.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5650.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">A truly scary cloud of mosquitoes. Click on the image to zoom in to see all the mosquitoes that are a bit farther away.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;">The next few photos are from Jay McGowan, who I spent 2009 field season with. His pictures truly capture the insect abundance.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/Jay_DSC00458.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/Jay_DSC00458.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Mosquitoes like dark colors. Zoom in on this picture to see how many are really there. It's unreal. (photo by Jay McGowan)<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/Jay_DSC00463.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/Jay_DSC00463.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">I think this may be one of the signs of the Apocalypse... "and the Lord sent forth a cloud, and the sky was darkened with mosquito" (photo by Jay McGowan)</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The following video is from the 2010 field season on one of the more buggy nights. Listen with sound...<br /></div></div></div></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="300" width="400"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://www.facebook.com/v/410796337590"><embed src="http://www.facebook.com/v/410796337590" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="300" width="400"></embed></object></div>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-is-that-annoying-buzzing-sound.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-5737499389229743714Tue, 14 Dec 2010 11:00:00 +00002010-12-14T06:00:07.987-05:00BirdsSystematics and TaxonomyBird species discovery odds and endsHere are a couple more neat graphs about the rate of discovery of new bird species that I couldn't fit well into my previous two posts about the subject (10,000 birds? Part 1 and Part 2).<br /><br />In Part 1 I briefly introduced the species accumulation curve as a means of comparison of rates of discovery between different groups. Here, I wanted to parse apart any broad-scale patterns in the bird data. I started by splitting the birds into their two broadest groupings - passerines (5927 species) and non-passerines (4100 species) - and then I split passerines again into two more broad classes - oscines (4668 species) and suboscines (1259 species). These new species accumulation curves are plotted against the overall bird curve (in black):<br /><br /><a href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig4-BirdGroupCurves.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig4-BirdGroupCurves.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">(click to enlarge)</span><br /></div><br />The non-passerine curve falls generally to the left of the passerines and birds overall, indicating that non-passerines were generally described earlier than passerines and fewer non-passerines have remained undescribed until recently. The passerine, oscine, and suboscine curves are generally similar in slope and position, although suboscines lag in the last 100 years or so. The suboscine curve is also the only one with a noticeable uptick - a bunch of new species described - in the last few decades.<br /><br />Those who know me when I get into projects like this know I like to take things to ridiculous excess. In this case, I decided to investigate family-level patterns of description. To get fairly smooth accumulation curves requires a fairly large number of taxa, so I picked the bird families recognized by Birdlife that contain more than 150 species. These twenty families are:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"> <style>table { }td { border: medium none ; padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-left: 1px; color: windowtext; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; font-family: Verdana; vertical-align: bottom; white-space: nowrap; }.xl24 { font-weight: 700; }ruby { }rt { color: windowtext; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; font-family: Verdana; display: none; }</style> </div><table style="border-collapse: collapse; text-align: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="159"> <col style="" width="109"> <col style="" width="50"> <tbody><tr height="13"> <td class="xl24" height="13" width="109">Family name</td> <td class="xl24" width="50">Species</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Tyrannidae</td> <td align="right">414</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Psittacidae</td> <td align="right">374</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Trochilidae</td> <td align="right">337</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Timaliidae</td> <td align="right">326</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Columbidae</td> <td align="right">318</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Emberizidae</td> <td align="right">313</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Sylviidae</td> <td align="right">293</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Muscicapidae</td> <td align="right">286</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Thraupidae</td> <td align="right">256</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Furnariidae</td> <td align="right">241</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Accipitridae</td> <td align="right">238</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Picidae</td> <td align="right">218</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Thamnophilidae</td> <td align="right">218</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Strigidae</td> <td align="right">186</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Phasianidae</td> <td align="right">181</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Meliphagidae</td> <td align="right">177</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Fringillidae</td> <td align="right">177</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Turdidae</td> <td align="right">173</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Anatidae</td> <td align="right">164</td> </tr> <tr height="13"> <td height="13">Rallidae</td> <td align="right">156</td> </tr> </tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>And their species accumulation curves, plotted against the all-bird curve in black:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig5-BirdFamilyCurves.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig5-BirdFamilyCurves.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">(click to enlarge)</span><br /></div><br />I don't expect anyone to actually tease apart that rainbow coalition of squiggles in detail, especially because they form such a tight column of similarly-sloped curves. That in itself is a pretty neat result - the family-level differences aren't as noticeable as I thought they would be, and teasing them apart in detail is fairly pointless. There are, however, two curves that stand apart from the rest.<br /><br />On the far left in pale blue is Anatidae. 50% of the currently known ducks were described by 1800, decades before any other family, and 90% were described by 1870. Ducks are big, obvious birds with common interaction with humans (in the form of hunting) and often bold, distinct male plumages in each species. It is thus not surprising that ducks were described comparatively early in history and very few new species have been described in the last 100 years.<br /><br />In contrast, on the right side of the curves, the pale reddish curve for Strigidae falls below the others in the last 100 years or so. The slope is pretty similar to the other curves for this time period, so I don't think the overall rate of discovery in owls is much lower. Instead, the curve is displaced lower by the flush of new species described in the last few decades - remember in my last post that owls had the highest number of new species described of any family since 1942.<br /><br />That's all I have for now - have fun staring at those colorful squiggles.http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/12/bird-species-discovery-odds-and-ends.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (slybird)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-1489212245949896681Mon, 13 Dec 2010 09:00:00 +00002010-12-13T13:58:03.132-05:00BirdsSystematics and Taxonomy10000 birds? Part 2In <a href="http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/12/10000-birds.html">Part 1</a>, I looked at the history of bird species discovery, and found that new bird species have been described at a fairly steady rate of an average 4.9 species per year since the 1940s. Here, I'll review what species have been discovered since the 1940s, where they are found, and why it took so long to find them.<br /><br />From 1942 until 2008, 330 species encompassing 76 families and 213 genera were described:<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe src="https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0ArzmjHPxWkMgdEpPcU0yNExaUUE2WmJON0FuNV84WGc&amp;hl=en&amp;single=true&amp;gid=0&amp;output=html&amp;widget=true" frameborder="0" height="500" width="400"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0ArzmjHPxWkMgdElkUW1JQ191M21NNk9rOXdTRERRWUE&amp;hl=en&amp;single=true&amp;gid=0&amp;output=html&amp;widget=true" frameborder="0" height="500" width="400"></iframe><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">(note: I accidently included 1 2009 datapoint, but 2009 is incomplete and more than 1 were described that year)</span><br /><br />Among the top families, five (Tyrannidae - tyrant flycatchers, Thamnophilidae -antbirds, Furnariidae - ovenbirds, Rhinocryptidae - tapaculos, Formicariidae - anthrushs) represent the diverse suboscine lineages of South America. Two other top families (Sylviidae - old world warbles and Timaliidae - babblers) are similarly diverse lineages from the old world (I don't think Birdlife carves up these families into smaller groups as other checklists do in the last few years). My gut impression before seeing this data was that these two broad groups of birds would be the leaders for multiple reasons - they compose many of the species I could remember seeing described in the last few years, they contain many cryptic groups and are receiving active taxonomic treatment with new input from DNA and song, and they are found in the tropical areas of the world still receiving new exploration and documentation of fauna. However, the winner in the family category by a large margin was a surprise for me: Strigidae (owls). It makes sense that cryptic nocturnal birds would contain a lot of previously undocumented diversity, but I was surprised at the scale. The top genera track the top families as expected (Glaucidium - Pygmy-Owls, Otus - Scops-Owls, Scytalopus - Tapaculos, Grallaria - Antpittas, Phylloscartes - Tyrannulets, etc).<br /><br />There are a myriad of historical and unquantifiable reasons that bird species persist until the present day undiscovered or unrecognized by science. However, I made several simple, straightforward predictions about recently discovered species that can be quantified and tested:<br /><br />1) New species are likely to be found in underexplored tropical countries<br />2) New species are likely to be single-country endemics<br />3) New species are likely to have small ranges<br />4) New species are likely to have small populations and thus more likely to be endangered<br /><br />Using <a href="http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/home">Birdlife International's online database,</a> I was able to extract relevant bits of information regarding these new species - where they are found, whether they are country endemics, their estimated range size, and their Birdlife conservation status. I tested my predictions by comparing the species described from 1942-2008 with random samples of species described earlier in history: 100 species described by Linnaeus in 1758 and 200 described in the 1840's-1860's.<br /><br />1) New species are likely to be found in underexplored tropical countries<br /><br />Here is a summary of where the new species (1942-2008) are found. The first column is overall country listings, which sums to well over 330 because of species ranging across many countries. The second column of results is for single-country endemic species.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe src="https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0ArzmjHPxWkMgdDF4R2h0YlpGM1hiWTl0a3puOEpQUFE&amp;hl=en&amp;single=true&amp;gid=0&amp;output=html&amp;widget=true" frameborder="0" height="500" width="400"></iframe><br /></div><br />As expected, the South American and Southeast Asian tropics top both lists, with Peru and Brazil leading both categories by a good margin.<br /><br />2) New species are likely to be single-country endemics<br /><br />I didn't tally the country-by-country data for my 1758 and 1800's sample groups, because so many of them span a huge range of countries. This difference is apparent when you compare the proportion of single-country endemics for each category:<br /><br />6% of species described in 1758 are found in a single country<br />24% of species described in the 1840s-1860s are found in a single country<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">72%</span> of species describe 1942-2008 are found within a single country<br /><br />This confirms that recently described species are more likely to be restricted to within a single country, and are thus easier to overlook, than those species described earlier in history.<br /><br />3) New species are likely to have small ranges<br /><br />I binned the Birdlife range size data by order of magnitude for each of the three time periods and calculated the proportion of the sample in each:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig9-RangeSizes.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig9-RangeSizes.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">(click to enlarge)</span><br /></div><br />The species described by Linnaeus in 1758 (blue bars) are overwhelmingly species with huge ranges in the millions of square kilometers. Species described in the mid-1800's still have ranges mostly in the hundreds of thousands to millions of square kilometers, but there is a wider distribution of species among the size classes.<br /><br />For new species described 1942-2008, the distribution among size classes is much wider than in the other time periods. Less than 4% of these species have ranges in the millions of square kilometers - these include species like Cryptic Forest Falcon (Micrastur mintoni) and Amazonian Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium hardyi) which have large Amazonian ranges. The largest proportion of new species have ranges sizes that are fairly small - 1000s to tens of thousands of square kilometers.<br /><br />The most stunning category is for range sizes of less than 100 square kilometers - an area only 5 times bigger than my hometown of North Tonawanda, NY. 12.5% of new species (32 total) fall into this category, with some absurdly small known ranges. Four species have a known range of less than ten square kilometers - Munchique Wood-Wren (Henicorhina negreti, 8 sq. km), Poo-uli (Melamprosops phaeosoma, 3 sq. km), Calayan Rail (Gallirallus calayanensis, 2 sq. km), and Bugun Liocichla (Liocichla bugunorum, 2 sq. km). Words fail me in trying to describe how mind-boggling, fascinating yet even heart-breaking it is to see species with ranges like this. The only species with ranges this small in the other categories are a fruit-dove and a honeyeater described in the mid 1800s from tiny South Pacific islands with range sizes around 25-50 sq. km.<br /><br />4) New species are likely to have small populations and thus are more likely to be endangered<br /><br />I wasn't able to easily pull data on population sizes for a large range of species from the Birdlife database, so instead I used a proxy - Birdlife conservation status. I calculated the proportion of species from each time period that fall into the six Birdlife categories:<br /><br />DD = Data Deficient<br />LC = Least Concern<br />NT = Near Threatened<br />VU = Vulnerable<br />EN = Endangered<br />CR = Critically Endangered<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig10-ConservationStatus.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig10-ConservationStatus.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">(click to enlarge)</span><br /></div><br />Just as the 1758 and mid-1800s samples were overwhelming skewed towards species with large range sizes, these categories are both over 80% composed of species ranked Least Concern. Only one of the 1758 species (Bald Ibis, Geronticus eremita) and one of the 1800s species (Cuban Kite, Chondrohierax wilsonii) are recognized as Critically Endangered. A plurality of the new species are Least Concern, but there is a very wide distribution of rankings, with 8.5% (28 species) being Critically Endangered.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Well, that about covers it. If you weren't keeping a running tally, all of my predictions were validated by the data! While I love playing with this data and learning more about the patterns of discovery of new species, I realized in the end that these findings are rather disturbing. A depressingly large proportion of bird species that have remained unknown to science until recently have very tiny ranges and are endangered. In this era of exceptional environmental destruction, how many more species like these have slipped away into extinction unnoticed? That is a number we can never know.http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/12/10000-birds-part-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (slybird)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-7805102847439426572Sun, 12 Dec 2010 13:00:00 +00002010-12-13T13:57:46.455-05:00BirdsSystematics and Taxonomy10,000 Birds?<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">"<span class="text_exposed_show">You think you know every bird in the world, and then someone shows you a Curl-crested Aracari"</span></span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="text_exposed_show">David Quammen, The Song of the Dodo</span></span><br /></div><br />An oft-cited figure for the diversity of birds in the world is around 10,000 living species, a reasonable rule of thumb although estimates vary - Birdlife International <a href="http://www.birdlife.org/community/2009/06/complete-bird-checklist/">currently recognizes</a> 10,027 while the <a href="http://www.worldbirdnames.org/updates.html">IOC list</a> is currently at 10,396. Duncan Wright says the number should be closer to <a href="http://10000birds.com/12-thousand-birds.htm">12,000</a> if recently extinct birds are included (and he also coincidentally begins with a David Quammen quote). Pinning down an exact number is an impossibility because differing opinions on species limits in species and subspecies complexes create a near-infinite number of list permutations. Pinning down a number is also impossible because the bar keeps getting raised by the new bird species discovered every year.<br /><br />New species of bird often receive a small splash of press when discovered or described, because birds are regarded as an exceptionally well described group of vertebrates and we've long reached the point where new birds are few in number. Additionally, the hunt for new species has been romanticized in such good reads as <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Parrot-Without-Name-Search-Birds/dp/0292765290/ref=sr_1_1?s=gateway&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1284853864&amp;sr=8-1">A Parrot Without A Name</a> or this more recent <a href="http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/egi/PDFs/newspecies.pdf">Birding article (pdf) by Joseph Tobias</a>. Tobias quotes Mayr (1946) as proclaiming the general end of new bird discovery - “I doubt that in the entire world even as many as 100 new species remain to be discovered” - but states that a yearly trickle of new species have been described since then. Just how many new birds are discovered every year? How much has the trickle of new birds declined? How many new birds are left to discover?<br /><br />I can't answer the last question, but I can find data for the first two. It is a logistical nightmare to track down this data by finding every new species description in the primary literature. Instead, I picked a world checklist to find what I needed. The formal way to list species in literature includes a citation for the description of the species, such as <span style="font-style: italic;">Puffinus griseus</span> (Gmelin 1789). By using these dates, you can quickly extract the year by year data for species descriptions. This method also only counts newly described species, not splits through the elevation of previously recognized subspecies.<br /><br />The only quickly downloadable checklist I found with data like this is Birdlife International's checklist, so I used their most recent version (v3, June 2010) and plotted out the data. Here is the number of new bird species described each year, beginning in 1758 with Linnaeus and ending in 2008 (the Birdlife checklist is incomplete for new species in 2009 and 2010):<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig1-BirdSpeciesByYear.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig1-BirdSpeciesByYear.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">(click to enlarge)<br /></span></div><br />The early decades show relative inactivity in bird taxonomy punctuated by massive monographs (like the 400+ that Linnaeus described in one work). The golden age of bird taxonomy peaks in the mid-1800's, with several decades of 50+ species described every year. The number of new birds described then generally declines to the present day.<br /><br />Another way to present this data - the most useful for comparison - is to create a species accumulation curve. This represents, for each year, what percentage of the total number of known species was described at that point. This allows you to examine what those small numbers of new species each year mean in the context of the total number of known bird species. The slope of the curve is a proxy for the rate of discovery of new species, and you can easily eyeball the differences in slope representing different rates of species description over time.<br /><style>table { }td { border: medium none ; padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-left: 1px; color: windowtext; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; font-family: Verdana; vertical-align: bottom; white-space: nowrap; }.xl24 { border: 0.5pt solid rgb(0, 0, 144); background: rgb(204, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; }ruby { }rt { color: windowtext; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; font-family: Verdana; display: none; </style><br />Here is the species accumulation curve for birds:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig2-BirdSpeciesAccumulation.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig2-BirdSpeciesAccumulation.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">(click to enlarge)</span><br /></div><br />This represents a typical curve for a well-described fauna - the middle range is steepest, and the curve plateaus as new species become increasing hard to find. Compare the curve for birds with that of a very different fauna, another favorite of mine, geckos:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/SpeciesAccumulationCurves-Birds-Gek.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/SpeciesAccumulationCurves-Birds-Gek.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">(click to enlarge)</span><br /></div><br />In stark contrast to birds, the rate of discovery of geckos has only accelerated through time, and the last few years have seen the highest yearly rates of gecko discovery ever - but that's another post. The point is that geckos are a representative of an under-described group with lots of new species to be found and taxonomic description left to be done. Birds are comparatively well-described and have relatively little left to be found.<br /><br />We can estimate how little is left to be found by studying the decline in new species found. So how about that decline? Zooming in to the last 120 years, we get this:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig6-BirdSpeciesByYear1890.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig6-BirdSpeciesByYear1890.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">(click to enlarge)</span><br /></div><br />At about the time Mayr proclaimed the end of bird discovery in the 1940s, the overall rate of description of new birds had been trending steeply downward for decades. After the rate reached rock bottom - 1941 is the last year with more than ten bird species described - there is indeed a steady trickle of new species every year, averaging 4.9 species per year and varying from zero (in 1954 and 1978) to ten (1960, 1974, 1997) new birds yearly.<br /><br />However, this trickle does not seem to show any sign of stopping, even decades after Mayr's prediction. In fact, if you take just the data from 1942-2008, look at the general trend line:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig7-BirdSpeciesByYear1940.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig7-BirdSpeciesByYear1940.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">(click to enlarge)</span><br /></div><br />That's right, that is a (very weakly supported) POSITIVE trend line for the discovery of new species in the last seven decades. Given the overall wide variance in discovery from year to year in these decades, I double-checked this trend my making a moving ten-year average of new birds per year:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig8-BirdSpecies10Year.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/Fig8-BirdSpecies10Year.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">(click to enlarge)</span><br /></div><br />This is a really fascinating result! Despite the fact that the overall description rate of birds has plummeted and won't ever get back up to the rate it was 100 years ago, discovery of new birds has stabilized and shows no signs of slowing since the 1940's. That means that, while the species accumulation curve has plateaued, it is not exactly drifting towards zero and the total number of remaining bird species can't be extrapolated. Who knows what is left to find?<br /><br />In <a href="http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/12/10000-birds-part-2.html">part 2</a> of this post, I'll outline what new species have been discovered in the last few decades, where they are being found, and some reasons for their late discovery. Stay tuned.http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/12/10000-birds.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (slybird)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-1322363365780844621Wed, 27 Oct 2010 01:23:00 +00002010-10-26T22:14:02.960-05:00BirdsBooksReview: Parrots of the World<div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://press.princeton.edu/images/k9292.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 100px;" src="http://press.princeton.edu/images/k9292.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>I recently received a review copy from Princeton University Press of <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9292.html">Parrots of the World</a> by Joseph Forshaw <span style="font-size:78%;">(<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Parrots-World-Princeton-Field-Guides/dp/0691142858/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1288142885&amp;sr=8-1">amazon</a>)</span>, which as the name implies covers all 350+ species of parrots in the world. This is a condensation of his early guide, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Parrots-World-Identification-Joseph-Forshaw/dp/0691092516">Parrots of the World: An Identification Guide</a>, designed as a typical field guide with an illustration plate on the right and brief text descriptions and range maps on the left. This redesign ends up being about the dimensions of the big Sibley guide but 2/3 of the length, so it is fairly suitable as a field guide, as it is marketed. However, I see little niche for world-spanning family guides as an actual in-the-field tool in my future birding - it would only be relevant for at most a couple dozen species out of hundreds on a trip to the neotropics, for example. However, I think this makes its niche as a light, cheap reference guide to the parrots, relative to its bigger and costlier parent book (although I have not seen this book in person to compare or to know how much information has been lost), so that is the angle I approach this review from.<br /></div><br />Overall, I think the book is gorgeous, and succeeds thoroughly as a reference to the Psittaciformes. The illustrations are generally excellent and lifelike, although a few are depicted not in life poses but instead front/back views of museum specimens, presumably for subspecies for which little material is available to study. Illustrations average around 3 species per plate, so with the dimensions of the book each bird is fairly large. Some plates feel a little empty with too few spaced out illustrations, and I think a few more similar species on plates together is generally better for comparison, but in most places the book succeeds in balancing the number of illustrations per plate with illustration size. Similarly, the range maps are well sized, with my only major complaint is the complete lack of country boundaries on continents. This is balanced by brief notations in the text about range and localities to see the species, but boundaries would have been a simple, beneficial addition.<br /><br />One major highlight of this book for me is the treatment of subspecies. Ranges of all subspecies are depicted on the maps and all are briefly described in the text, and many subspecies receive their own illustrations. In a few extreme cases this leads to a species like Rainbow Lorikeet taking up three plates itself, but I don't see this as bad at all. The comprehensive inclusion of subspecies is so critical for capturing the true range of variation in a bird family, and is also extremely helpful for understanding potential future splits.<br /><br />Overall accuracy is a major benchmark for a reference work, but unfortunately I am in little position to evaluate this for most of the species in the guide. I have however spent some time birding in the neotropics, and I've even spent multiple field seasons doing research on a wild population of Green-rumped Parrotlets (<span style="font-style: italic;">Forpus passerinus</span>). So, to check accuracy of course the first thing I did was flip to this genus. The illustrations for <span style="font-style: italic;">F. passerinus</span> were a little disappointing for me - the overall structure of these birds is very accurate but there are subtle details in the plumage they got wrong. The male <span style="font-style: italic;">F. p. passerinus </span>is accurate except they tend to have a slightly grayer wash on the nape. The female though definitely does not show such a distinct green face mask like the male as illustrated and instead has a variable yellow wash in the front of the face.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">A pair of Green-rumped Parrotlets - male on the upper post. You know they had to make it into this post somehow!<br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Venezuela/Birds/P1200840.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Venezuela/Birds/P1200840.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Another major plus for this guide is the inclusion of flight illustrations, both upper and lower surfaces, for the majority of species. This is such an excellent feature I do not really know why its inclusion was not 100% comprehensive. A large number of my neotropical parrot sightings consist of birds flying past - such as slow, raucous pairs of Amazona or noisy rapid flocks of parakeets - so when country field guides fail to depict flight shots well they put birders at a disadvantage to identifying parrots. Also to this end the guide includes a neat figure in the introduction identifying many parrot genera by silhouette via their distinctive shapes.<br /><br />The flipside to this is that Parrots of the World gets these distinctive flight profiles wrong for major Neotropical genera. It depicts the stocky, broad-winged and short-tailed genera, chiefly <span style="font-style: italic;">Amazona</span>, as having narrow, pointed wings approaching falcon-shaped in both the genera chart and in every individuals flight shots. This is just a major glaring error. Take a look at the wing shape depicted for these <span style="font-style: italic;">Pionites </span>in this sample plate from Princeton Press - the same swept-back pointed wing is depicted for <span style="font-style: italic;">Amazona</span>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://press.princeton.edu/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/120.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://press.princeton.edu/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/120.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Now check out <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/avidaelinda/4247727265/">this</a> or <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/parrots/2620293521/">this</a> flight shot of Amazona parrots from Flickr. I don't think this ultimately detracts greatly from the guide's usefulness as an overall parrot reference, but it could impair field identifications and is ultimately just really annoying for those familiar with these species in the field.<br /><br />One final pet peeve - the frequent use of "unmistakable" as a descriptive term for many species. First, nothing is truly unmistakable. Second, some species listed as such really don't deserve it. For example, both Hyacinth and Lear's Macaws are listed as unmistakable, and they are unmistakable as a group apart from most other parrots but they are most definitely very similar to each other and easily mistakable. Use of this term is bland and meaningless in descriptions of bird identification.<br /><br />Overall, this is an excellent reference for anyone interested in general parrot diversity. It has a few minor flaws in design and some flaws in accuracy for some species, but I am still extremely glad to have it as an addition to my library.http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/10/review-parrots-of-world.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (slybird)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-4638412262425897044Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:00:00 +00002010-09-05T12:00:02.429-05:00Bird of the DayBirdsChurchillLeast Sandpiper from Egg to AdultInspired by a <a href="http://10000birds.com/juvenile-least-sandpipers-calidris-minutilla.htm">post</a> by Corey on <a href="http://10000birds.com/">10,000 Birds</a>, I decided to put together a post of Least Sandpiper (<span style="font-style: italic;">Calidris minutilla</span>) showing all stages in development, from egg, to chick, to fledgling, to juvenile, to adult. All of these pictures were taken while I was helping with research on Hudsonian Godwits in Churchill, MB.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2623.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2623.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Adult Least Sandpiper on territory in Churchill Manitoba.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2835-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2835-1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">As with many other breeding shorebirds in Churchill, Least Sandpipers on the breeding grounds behave very differently than how most of us think of them. This adult Least Sandpiper is sitting atop a small larch as it yells at me, trying to get me away from its nest.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2633.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2633.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Adult Least Sandpiper sitting on its nest. Their cryptic plumage and their nest placement provides good concealment from predators.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2383.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2383.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2387.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2387.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Least Sandpiper nest. A full clutch typically consists of four eggs. Note my foot in the corner of the lower picture for a sense of scale... they are very tiny nests. Nests tend to be quite well concealed under a small clump of sedge or a small shrub (usually birch).<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5789.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5789.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2904.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2904.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Recently hatched Least Sandpiper chicks.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_6016.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_6016.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Least Sandpiper at fledging. This individual was able to fly about 10 feet at at time. Note the juvenile-type plumage of the back and coverts, but the retained fuzzy head and short primaries. In addition, this bird was still making "peeping" noises and an adult was still nearby.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_6058.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_6058.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_6061.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_6061.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">This recently fledged Least Sandpiper was really neat, because in all aspects it looked like an average juvenile Least Sandpiper, except it still retained some down on the head. This bird was fully capable of flying, and had the normal call of Least Sandpipers.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/LESA_corey.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/LESA_corey.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">After fledging completely, and losing all of their fluffiness, juvenile Least Sandpipers begin to move. This juvenile Least Sandpiper was photographed at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge (photo by Corey Finger)</span><br /><br /></div>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/09/least-sandpiper-from-egg-to-adult.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-3917484056035925214Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:00:00 +00002010-09-03T12:00:00.514-05:00BirdsChileResearchTraversing Chile for GodwitsWhile our main study areas for catching and resighting godwits were the bays and estuaries around Castro, another part of the project involved traveling to sights all over the island of Chiloe and around Puerto Montt where godwits spend the winter. This was part of an effort to figure out where the godwits were, how many there were at these locations, as well as to try and find some more banded individuals, especially ones that Nate had banded in Alaska the summer before. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip since it involved seeing more of the countryside, and some other cool birds.<span style=""> Our mission was to survey</span> locations north of Castro on the island of Chiloe, as well as sights on the mainland around Puerto Montt.<p class="MsoNormal">Before we began doing our godwit surveys, we had to have a little fun. Before leaving Chiloe, we went to the Puñihuil Penguinera, a famous penguin colony known for harboring both Magellanic (<span style="font-style: italic;">Spheniscus magellanicus</span>) and Humboldt Penguins (<span style="font-style: italic;">S. humboldti</span>).</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4571.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4571.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4621.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4621.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4738.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4738.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Views of and around the Puñihuil Penguinera.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4563.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4563.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4568.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4568.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Magellanic (above) and Humboldt Penguins (below) in the penguin breeding colony off of Chiloe</span></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4552.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4552.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4726.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4726.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">One of the coolest "geese" in the world... the Kelp Goose (<span style="font-style: italic;">Chloephaga hybrida</span>). Above, three young birds. Below, an adult female with a Humboldt Penguin staring on.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4569.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4569.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4593.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4593.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4578.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4578.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4616.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4616.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Some other cool sightings around the </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Puñihuil Penguinera included, but were not limited to: Red-legged Cormorants (<span style="font-style: italic;">Phalacrocorax gaimardi</span>) (above); Marine Otter (<span style="font-style: italic;">Lontra felina</span>) (second); Flightless Steamer Duck female and chicks (third); and Blackish Oystercatcher (<span style="font-style: italic;">Haematopodus ater</span>) (below)</span></p><p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Before leaving the island of Chiloe, we saw some beautiful scenery on the island...</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4657.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4657.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4713.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4713.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4500.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4500.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4271.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4271.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal">...and some awesome birds to boot...</p><p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4828.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4828.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Out of focus picture of a Thorn-tailed Rayadito, an awesome Furnariid that is a cross between a Brown Creeper and a chickadee in behavior</span></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4371.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4371.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Black-necked Swans (<span style="font-style: italic;">Cygnus melancoryphus</span>)</span><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4272.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4272.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">A pair of Ausral Pygmy Owls (<span style="font-style: italic;">Glaucidium nanum</span>)</span><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4179.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4179.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4106.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4106.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">The ever present Chimango Caracara (<span style="font-style: italic;">Milvago chimango</span>), the crow of Chile (above), and the Southern Caracara (<span style="font-style: italic;">Caracara plancus</span>) (below)</span><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4477.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4477.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">A flock of several thousand Hudsonian Godwits</span><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4503.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4503.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Black-faced Ibis (<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search"><span style="font-style: italic;">Theristicus melanopis</span>), an ever present, and noisy addition to the Chilean avifauna<br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4069.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4069.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4072.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4072.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Slender-billed Parakeets (<span style="visibility: visible; font-style: italic;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">Enicognathus leptorhynchus</span></span><span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">), one of the most awesome birds around Chiloe<br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4296.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4296.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">A cute family group of Flightless Steamer Ducks</span><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4693.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4693.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Black-chinned Siskin (<span style="font-style: italic;">Spinus barbata</span>)</span><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4765.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4765.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Chilean Flamingos (<span style="font-style: italic;">Phoenicoptera chilensis</span>)</span><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4770.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4770.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Coscoroba Swan (<span style="font-style: italic;">Coscoroba coscoroba</span>) - these birds, while superficially very similar to swans, but may not be closely related to swans</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal">By far, the most stunning place for godwits was a place called Chamisa, which was a huge mudflat on the outskirts of Puerto Montt.<span style=""> </span>This is a location that on a normal year holds roughly 6,000 godwits, and ~1,000 Whimbrels.<span style=""> </span>This year, however was special, and Nate and I counted roughly 9,000 godwits!<span style=""> </span>We are not entirely sure why this was, but it was incredible to see so many godwits in one place.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4787.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4787.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">The extensive mudlfats at Chamisa, with many algae collectors.</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4800.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4800.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">A large flock of hundreds of Hudsonian Godwits</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4821.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4821.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4808-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4808-1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">A large feeding flock of Hudsonian Godwits, Surfbirds, and gulls.</span><br /><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">When we were done with our godwit surveys, we had one full day to ourselves. Never having been to South America, I wanted to see as many different habitats as possible, as well as a chance to see a Magellanic Woodpecker (<span style="font-style: italic;">Campephilus magellanicus</span>). That meant getting up in elevation and into some good forest. We decided to go to Parque Nacional Puyehue, in the foothills of the Andes. We chose this particular site because it had easy access to high elevation habitats. Needless to say , it was an amazing place, with many cool birds, but no big woodpeckers.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4822.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4822.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">A fast flowing mountain stream... that can only mean one thing...</span></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4823.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4823.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4824.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4824.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">...Torrent Ducks (<span style="font-style: italic;">Merganetta armata</span>)!!!!</span></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4838.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4838.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">The inside of an old, volcano crater</span><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4835.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4835.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Dark-faced Ground Tyrant (<span style="visibility: visible; font-style: italic;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search">Muscisaxicola maclovianus</span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;">), a bird more like a thrush or pipit than a flycatcher</span><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4845.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4845.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Bar-winged Cinclodes (<span style="font-style: italic;">Cinclodes fuscus</span>)</span><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4849.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4849.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">A view of the Andes from the top of a volcano</span></p><p style="text-align: left;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">All in all, my trip to Chile was amazing, and I certainly learned a lot. I hope you've enjoyed my posts about my trip. It was an incredible opportunity, and awesome to see and study Hudsonian Godwits on their wintering grounds.</span><br /></p>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/09/traversing-chile-for-godwits.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-6898054728963995748Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +00002010-08-30T12:00:01.920-05:00BirdsChileResearchShorebird BandingTo avoid picture overload in the cannon netting post, I’ve decided to put a bunch of pictures of banding godwits and Whimbrels in a separate post. Enjoy!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4321.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4321.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">A series of godwit flags prior to putting them out on birds. We used up all of these flags in a single catch, and then some. Prior to each catch, we always made sure we had at least 200 flags ready, just in case it was a big catch.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4328.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4328.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">The first thing that we do after we've caught a bird is put the standard aluminum band on their right leg.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4331.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4331.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4393.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4393.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">The next step is to attach the color band and the alpha flag. The flag goes on the left leg of the bird. In these photos, a godwit (top) and a Whimbrel (bottom) get their respective flags. The flags are glued shut to make sure they don't fall off the birds.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4346.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4346.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4404.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4404.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">The next thing we check for on birds is we measure their wing length, and also age birds based on their plumage and molt. In these pictures, we are checking the wing molt of an adult godwit (top) and a juvenile Whimbrel (bottom).</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4408.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4408.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Bill length and total head length are also measured with calipers, in addition to the length of their tarsus (leg). These measurements can help to sex birds (females have longer bills than males). The final measurement that we take from birds is their mass. Mass can also help us to sex the birds, as females are again heavier than males.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4489.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4489.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4492.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4492.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">While we mostly caught our target species while netting, we caught a few gulls with one capture. In one particular netting, we caught a Franklin's Gull (above) and a Brown-hooded Gull (bottom). The Brown-hooded Gull is a first year bird, and does not have a complete brown hood. </span><br /></div>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/08/shorebird-banding.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-6675652619918545587Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:00:00 +00002010-08-23T06:50:27.530-05:00BirdsBPR3ResearchSystematics and TaxonomyNew Wood-Warbler Taxonomy<span style="padding: 5px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border: 0pt none ;" /></a></span>The July issue of The Auk contained the AOU North American Checklist Committee's <a href="http://www.aou.org/checklist/suppl/AOU_checklist_suppl_51.pdf">51st supplement to the AOU checklist (pdf)</a>, a variety of splits and changes to taxonomy at the genus level and higher. Sibley handily <a href="http://www.sibleyguides.com/2010/07/bird-name-changes-in-the-51st-aou-checklist-supplement/">summarizes the name changes</a> to North American species, and Michael Retter<a href="http://xenospiza.com/"> reviews the whole supplement</a>, and I'm sure it has been plastered elsewhere on the blogosphere by now so I am not going into a full review here (plus, I <a href="http://slybird.blogspot.com/2008/07/winter-wren-is-multiple-species.html">blogged about one of the splits</a> two years ago - everyone else is late to the party). Instead, I'm breaking my long self-imposed blog exile to talk about warblers. Actually, mostly about warbler names.<br /><br />The 51st supplement makes two changes to genera in New World wood-warblers (Parulidae): the waterthrushes are split from the Ovenbird (<span style="font-style: italic;">Seiurus</span>) and placed in a new genus, <span style="font-style: italic;">Parkesia</span>, and most of the genus <span style="font-style: italic;">Vermivora</span> is split and removed into a new genus, <span style="font-style: italic;">Oreothlypis</span> . These changes are based on results that have been in the phylogenetic literature for some years now, but have not resulted in comprehensive taxonomic updates. While Klein et al. (2004) presented a phylogeny for the family and documented many problems with generic limits, they did not present many taxonomic solutions and their sampling of the diversity of Central and South American Parulids was very slim. In general, while there have been several papers addressing phylogeny in the overall family (Klein et al 2004, Lovette and Hochachka 2006) and in certain groups (<span style="font-style: italic;">Dendroica</span>: Lovette and Bermingham 1999; <span style="font-style: italic;">Myioborus</span> - Perez-Eman 2005; <span style="font-style: italic;">Geothylpis</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Oporornis</span> - Escalante et al. 2009), a comprehesive phylogeny of the group with solid sampling of species (there are over 110 in the whole family) and a complete update of Parulid taxonomy has been lacking ... (drumroll)... until now.<br /><br />Lovette et al. (2010) present a comprehensive picture of the evolution of the wood-warblers, sampling all but three species and addressing the phylogenetic analyses with a good array of loci and methods. Their main result is a phylogenetic hypothesis for comparative studies and a proposal for complete revision to generic boundaries. I just want to step through the warbler tree and possible taxonomic disagreements as a guide for when taxonomic authorities eventually get to addressing them.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Phylogeny of the Parulidae (Fig. 5 from Lovette et al. 2010) with proposed taxonomic changes. You'll definitely want to click to enlarge and read<br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/ParulidaeLovetteetal2010-1.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Papers/ParulidaeLovetteetal2010-1.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Parulidae is a large family with ~110 species concentrated in several large genera, but the early branches of the tree are composed of 7 different species-poor lineages. The first branch in the tree is in all analyses the Ovenbird (<span style="font-style: italic;">Seiurus aurocapillus</span>) - the dull, chunky warbler of forest floors in the Eastern US. Other lineages represent monotypic genera, the odds and sods of the Parulidae that have been recognized as distinct - the Worm-eating Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Helmitheros vermivorus</span>), Black-and-White Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Mniotilta varia</span>), Prothonotary Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Protonotaria citrea</span>), and Swainson's Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Limnothlypis swainsonii</span>). The final two lineages in this group represent some of the generic reassignments already made by the AOU. The Northern (<span style="font-style: italic;">noveboracensis</span>) and Louisiana (<span style="font-style: italic;">motacilla</span>) are moved from the genus <span style="font-style: italic;">Seiurus,</span> which they shared with the Ovenbird (a relationship that never made sense to me, given how different they are in plumage and habits), to their own genus, <span style="font-style: italic;">Parkesia</span> (created for them by Sangster 2008). Three species of <span style="font-style: italic;">Vermivora</span> - Bachman's (<span style="font-style: italic;">bachmanii</span>), Blue-winged (<span style="font-style: italic;">pinus</span>, now <span style="font-style: italic;">cyanoptera</span>), and Golden-winged (<span style="font-style: italic;">chrysoptera</span>), are found to not be closely related to the remaining members of the genus. These lineages are all found in Eastern North America, but represent a variety of plumage and ecological specializations. The exact relationships among them change depending on analyses (except the placement of Ovenbird at the base of the tree), but it is clear that they are all old and distinct, and I don't foresee anyone attempting to lump some of these monotypic genera.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Worm-eating Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Helmitheros vermivorous</span>) from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Worm-eating_Warbler.jpg">Wikipedia</a><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Worm-eating_Warbler.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Worm-eating_Warbler.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The remaining members of what was <span style="font-style: italic;">Vermivora</span> - Tennessee (<span style="font-style: italic;">peregrina</span>), Orange-crowned (<span style="font-style: italic;">celata</span>), Colima (<span style="font-style: italic;">crissalis</span>), Lucy's (<span style="font-style: italic;">luciae</span>), Virginia's (<span style="font-style: italic;">virginiae</span>), and Nashville (<span style="font-style: italic;">ruficapilla</span>) - get their own branch of the warbler tree. These ex-<span style="font-style: italic;">Vermivora</span> are a pretty cohesive and closely related group - they are all North American, either greenish (northern and eastern species) or grayish (southwestern species), most with an orange or rufous crown patch and yellowish vent. However, they share their branch with two oddballs - Crescent-chested Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">superciliosa</span>) and Flame-throated Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">gutturalis</span>), formerly in the genus <span style="font-style: italic;">Parula</span>. Both of those are Central American species with plumage very similar to that of Northern and Tropical Parulas, Crescent-chested especially - <a href="http://www.ownbyphotography.com/Crescent-chested-Warbler.jpg">check this photo out</a> - but <a href="http://www.costaricagateway.com/images/savegre/Flame-throated_Warbler_web.jpg">Flame-throated</a> is a bit more distinctive and I'm not surprised it is not related to other Parulas.<br /><br />The ex-<span style="font-style: italic;">Parula</span> group is pretty closely related, the ex-<span style="font-style: italic;">Vermivora</span> group is pretty closely related and the two groups are each others closest relatives on the big warbler tree, but already opinions differ on how to assign new genus names. Sangster (2008b) saw this result in earlier phylogenetic literature and took the step of naming each group separately - Crestent-chested and Flame-throated Warblers get the resurrected genus name <span style="font-style: italic;">Oreothlypis</span>, and the ex-<span style="font-style: italic;">Vermivora</span> get a newly created genus name <span style="font-style: italic;">Leiothlypis</span>. Lovette et al. (2010) decided to give a genus name to the whole group, meaning <span style="font-style: italic;">Leiothlypis</span> gets subsumed by <span style="font-style: italic;">Oreothlypis</span> as the name for the group. The AOU voted the same way in the 51st supplement, merging all eight taxa into <span style="font-style: italic;">Oreothlypis</span>, with <a href="http://www.aou.org/committees/nacc/proposals/2009_B_votes_web.php">many of the voters citing</a> one genus as marginally better than two, even though it is totally arbitrary. I personally think keeping <span style="font-style: italic;">Leiothlypis</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Oreothlypis</span> as separate makes more sense, given their distinctiveness from each other, but both options are valid.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Lucy's Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Oreothlypis luciae</span>) from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vermivora_luciae_-North_America-8.jpg">Wikipedia</a><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Vermivora_luciae_-North_America-8.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Vermivora_luciae_-North_America-8.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The next branch in the warbler tree contains the yellowthroats (<span style="font-style: italic;">Geothlypis</span>), species found throughout the New World united by black masks and another feature you might never guess from their name, the gray or black hooded North American warblers in the genus <span style="font-style: italic;">Oporornis</span>, and an unusual, little-known, likely extinct species endemic to St. Lucia in the Lesser Antilles - Semper's Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Leucopeza semperi</span>). However, generic limits are all mixed up in this group, necessitating change. There is a tight-knit little group of closely-related yellowthroats, including the widespread Common (<span style="font-style: italic;">trichas</span>) and the similar Belding's, Bahama, Altamira, and Hooded, and the slightly more distantly related Olive-crowned and Black-polled. Their closest relative is not, however, other yellowthroats but instead Kentucky Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Oporornis formosus</span>), which with its black mask and yellow underparts looks more like a yellowthroat than the other <span style="font-style: italic;">Oporornis</span> anyway. The two gray-hooded species, Mourning and MacGillivray's, are closest relatives (and a hybrid zone has recently been described in Canada), but instead of being closest to the other gray-hooded species, Connecticut, they are related to two more unusual yellowthroats - Masked (<span style="font-style: italic;">aequinoctialis</span>, which may actually be a species complex) and Gray-crowned (<span style="font-style: italic;">poliocephala</span>). The two final species in this group are old, distinct genetic lineages - Connecticut (<span style="font-style: italic;">agilis</span>) and Semper's Warbler. Escalante et al. (2009) and Lovette et al. (2010) both choose, because of how mixed up the traditional genus limits are, that it makes most sense to contain this whole group within one genus - <span style="font-style: italic;">Geothlypis</span> has priority. An alternative treatment has already been made by John Boyd's <a href="http://jboyd.net/Taxo/List30.html">TiF Checklist</a> - he retains <span style="font-style: italic;">Leucopeza</span>, allows Connecticut to retain the genus <span style="font-style: italic;">Oporornis</span>, and leaves the rest as <span style="font-style: italic;">Geothlypis</span>. I also tend to prefer retaining <span style="font-style: italic;">Leucopeza</span> for the very distinctive Semper's Warbler, but Connecticut isn't all that different from others and I'm not sure it should get its own genus. I guess I'm undecided on this point.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Gray-crowned Yellowthroat (<span style="font-style: italic;">Geothlypis poliocephala</span>) from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grey-crowned_Yellowthroat_-_cropped.jpg">Wikipedia</a><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Grey-crowned_Yellowthroat_-_cropped.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Grey-crowned_Yellowthroat_-_cropped.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Masked Yellowthroat (<span style="font-style: italic;">Geothlypis aequinoctialis</span>) from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Geothlypis_aequinoctialis.jpg">Wikipedia</a><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Geothlypis_aequinoctialis.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Geothlypis_aequinoctialis.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The remaining warblers - fully two-thirds of the diversity of the family - form two broad groups. One contains almost all the remaining North American species, mainly the bright colorful migratory species in <span style="font-style: italic;">Dendroica</span> that are what most come to mind when wood-warblers are mentioned. The other contains almost all warbler diversity in Central and South America in several distinct genera.<br /><br />The North American <span style="font-style: italic;">Dendroica</span> radiation of warblers is pretty amazing - they are the eye candy of the family. They underwent an early burst of speciation that declined through time, likely as ecological niches were filled. They have diversified to the extreme in plumage (and to a degree in song as well), so much so that virtually no plumage characters unite them, but they have not diversified much morphologically. This may constrain them ecologically, but they also adapt by behaviorally partitioning their ecological niches - the subject of some classic ecological studies. Check out this <a href="http://www.birds.cornell.edu/Publications/Birdscope/Autumn2008/tree_of_life.html">poster</a> on the North American members of the group. Lovette et al. (2010) confirm earlier phylogenetic studies that <span style="font-style: italic;">Dendroica</span> represents one big cohesive group. However, taxonomic changes come from other species found nested within the genus. The American Redstart (in the monotypic genus <span style="font-style: italic;">Setophaga</span>), the two remaining <span style="font-style: italic;">Parula</span> - American (<span style="font-style: italic;">americana</span>) and Tropical (<span style="font-style: italic;">pitiayumi</span>) - and the Hooded Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Wilsonia</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">citrina</span>) are all firmly embedded within <span style="font-style: italic;">Dendroica</span>. The strange Whistling Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Catharopeza</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">bishopi</span>) - <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmittermeier/4184401824/in/photostream/">seen here</a> - from St. Vincent in the Lesser Antilles is also closely related to this radiation, but represents the earliest branch. Lovette et al. (2010) choose to rename the whole group into one genus - <span style="font-style: italic;">Setophaga</span> has priority, unfortunately removing the name <span style="font-style: italic;">Dendroica</span> associated with much of the literature on the group. I agree with this move, except perhaps on lumping <span style="font-style: italic;">Catharopeza</span> in with the rest. I like minimizing taxonomic changes necessary, and the position of <span style="font-style: italic;">Catharopeza </span>as the oldest branch does not mandate that it be lumped in with the rest of the group. It is pretty unique in plumage, but on the other hand, few species in <span style="font-style: italic;">Dendroica</span> look alike - it is their heterogeneity that unites them. John Boyd has taken an alternative approach to the taxonomy, choosing to preserve all of the other genera that were found lumped within <span style="font-style: italic;">Dendroica</span>. This necessitates making some odd changes - three West Indian Dendroica (Arrow-headed (<span style="font-style: italic;">pharetra</span>), Plumbeous (<span style="font-style: italic;">plumbea</span>), and Elfin Woods (<span style="font-style: italic;">angelae</span>)) would require their own new genus to be described, and Kirtland's (<span style="font-style: italic;">kirtlandii</span>), Cape May (<span style="font-style: italic;">tigrina</span>) and Cerulean (<span style="font-style: italic;">cerulea</span>) would need to be lumped into <span style="font-style: italic;">Parula</span> to preserve that genus. I completely disagree with this approach - it creates much more taxonomic change than the alternative, it relies on the exact branching pattern of species within the overall group which is likely to change depending upon the analysis, and I see no real distinctiveness to these genera - especially the bizarre new <span style="font-style: italic;">Parula</span>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Cerulean Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Setophaga cerulea</span>) from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dendroica-cerulea-002.jpg">Wikipedia</a><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Dendroica-cerulea-002.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Dendroica-cerulea-002.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Blackburnian Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Setophaga fusca</span>) from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dendroica-fusca-001.jpg">Wikipedia</a><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Dendroica-fusca-001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Dendroica-fusca-001.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Most warbler diversity in the Neotropics falls within a large genus, <span style="font-style: italic;">Basileuterus</span>. While containing almost as many species as the newly expanded <span style="font-style: italic;">Setophaga</span>, plumage in this genus is much more conservative, consisting most often of yellow underparts, green or grayish upperparts, and striping on the face. Lovette et al. (2010) find that <span style="font-style: italic;">Basileuterus</span> is actually two distinct groups occupying different portions of the tree, and it needs to be split into two genera. One group is primarily South American species, and also includes embedded within it two species often given their own genus <span style="font-style: italic;">Phaeothlypis</span> - River Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">rivularis</span>) and Buff-rumped Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">fulvicauda</span>). <span style="font-style: italic;">Phaeothlypis</span> is merged into this genus and the South American group is given the resurrected genus name <span style="font-style: italic;">Myiothlypis</span>. The other clade of <span style="font-style: italic;">Basileuterus </span>retains that genus name and consists mostly of Central American species with a few closely related South American forms. In with the new reduced <span style="font-style: italic;">Basileuterus</span> clade is the Fan-tailed Warbler, often split as its own genus <span style="font-style: italic;">Euthlypis lachrymosa</span>. It represents the earliest branch in <span style="font-style: italic;">Basileuterus, </span>and like <span style="font-style: italic;">Catharopeza</span> could continue to be recognized because taxonomic change is not abolutely necessary, but Lovette et al. (2010) include it in <span style="font-style: italic;">Basileuterus</span>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Black-crested Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Myiothlypis nigrocristatus</span>) from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Black-crested_Warbler_%28Basileuterus_nigrocristatus%29.jpg">Wikipedia</a><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Black-crested_Warbler_%28Basileuterus_nigrocristatus%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Black-crested_Warbler_%28Basileuterus_nigrocristatus%29.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Pirre Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Basileuterus ignotus</span>) from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pirre_Warbler.jpg">Wikipedia</a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Pirre_Warbler.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Pirre_Warbler.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Buff-rumped Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Myiothlypis fulvicauda</span>) from <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Phaeothlypis_fulvicauda.jpg"></a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Phaeothlypis_fulvicauda.jpg">Wikipedia</a><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Phaeothlypis_fulvicauda.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /></div>The final two Neotropical lineages are related to <span style="font-style: italic;">Myiothlypis</span>. One lineage is the redstarts/whitestarts in the genus <span style="font-style: italic;">Myioborus</span>. This is actually the only large genus in the Parulidae not affected by taxonomic changes. The other lineage contains a motley assortment - Canada Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Wilsonia canadensis</span>), Wilson's Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Wilsonia pusilla</span>), Red-faced Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Cardellina rubrifrons</span>), and the two reddish warblers in <span style="font-style: italic;">Ergaticus</span>: Red (<span style="font-style: italic;">ruber</span>) and Pink-faced (<span style="font-style: italic;">versicolor</span>). A close relationship between <span style="font-style: italic;">Cardellina</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Ergaticus</span> is hardly surprising: these species are some of the only warblers to utilize bright reds in their plumage, and they are all restricted to Mexico and adjacent areas. The inclusion of two <span style="font-style: italic;">Wilsonia</span> species here is bizarre - the genus never made any sense to me, but I expected them all to be thrown in with <span style="font-style: italic;">Dendroica</span>. Instead, it looks like two species from the broad Neotropical radiation of warblers have reinvaded North America, become migrants, and are perhaps as similar to some <span style="font-style: italic;">Dendroica</span> in plumage as they are to Neotropical species. As weird as this group appears, Lovette et al. (2010) lump <span style="font-style: italic;">Ergaticus</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Cardellina</span>, and the two <span style="font-style: italic;">Wilsonia</span> into one genus - <span style="font-style: italic;">Cardellina</span> has priority. The alternative, retaining <span style="font-style: italic;">Ergaticus</span>, would necessitate the creation of two new monotypic genera for Wilson's and Canada Warblers - not really a very desirable solution.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Wilson's Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Cardellina pusilla</span>) from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wilsonia_pusilla.jpg">Wikipedia</a><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Wilsonia_pusilla.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Wilsonia_pusilla.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Red Warbler (<span style="font-style: italic;">Cardellina ruber</span>) from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ergaticus_ruber.jpg">Wikipedia</a><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Ergaticus_ruber.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Ergaticus_ruber.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Collared Whitestart (<span style="font-style: italic;">Myioborus torquatus</span>) from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Myioborus_torquatus_-Costa_Rica-8.jpg">Wikipedia</a><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Myioborus_torquatus_-Costa_Rica-8.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Myioborus_torquatus_-Costa_Rica-8.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Well, that about covers Parulidae - or at least, a guide to the potentially confusing and contentious upcoming taxonomic changes in the group. I haven't even covered many problems with species limits in the group, or any of the interesting aspects of warbler biology that the phylogeny can be used to study. Maybe someday. To close, here is a summary of genera in the taxonomy of Parulidae proposed by Lovette et al. 2010:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Seiurus</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Helmitheros</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Parkesia</span> (incl. some <span style="font-style: italic;">Seiurus</span>)<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Vermivora</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Mniotilta</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Protonotaria</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Limnothlypis</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Oreothlypis</span> (incl. some <span style="font-style: italic;">Vermivora</span>, some <span style="font-style: italic;">Parula</span>)<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Geothlypis</span> (incl. <span style="font-style: italic;">Oporornis</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Leucopeza</span>)<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Setophaga</span> (incl. some <span style="font-style: italic;">Wilsonia</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Dendroica</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Catharopeza</span>, some <span style="font-style: italic;">Parula</span>)<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Myiothlypis</span> (incl. <span style="font-style: italic;">Phaeothlypis</span>, some <span style="font-style: italic;">Basileuterus</span>)<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Basileuterus</span> (incl. <span style="font-style: italic;">Euthlypis</span>)<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Cardellina</span> (incl. some <span style="font-style: italic;">Wilsonia</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Ergaticus</span>)<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Myioborus</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">References<br /><br />Escalante P, Marquez-Valdelamar L, de la Torre P, Laclette JP, and J Klicka (2009) Evolutionary history of a prominent North American warbler clade: the Oporornis-Geothlypis complex. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 53:668-678<br /><br />Klein NK, KJ Burns, SJ Hackett, and CS Griffiths (2004) Molecular phylogenetic relationships among the wood warblers (Parulidae) and historical biogeography in the Caribbean basin. Journal of Caribbean Ornithology 17, 3-17<br /><br />Lovette IJ and E Bermingham (1999) Explosive speciation in the New World Dendroica warblers. Proc R Soc Lond B 266:1629-1636<br /><br />Lovette IJ and WM Hochachka (2006) Simultaneous effects of phylogenetic niche conservatism and competition on avian community structure. Ecology 87(7):S14-S28<br /><br /><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&amp;rft.jtitle=Molecular+Phylogenetics+and+Evolution&amp;rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2Fj.ympev.2010.07.018&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&amp;rft.atitle=A+comprehensive+multilocus+phylogeny+for+the+wood-warblers+and+a+revised+classification+of+the+Parulidae+%28Aves%29&amp;rft.issn=10557903&amp;rft.date=2010&amp;rft.volume=&amp;rft.issue=&amp;rft.spage=&amp;rft.epage=&amp;rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1055790310003179&amp;rft.au=Lovette%2C+I.&amp;rft.au=P%C3%A9rez-Em%C3%A1n%2C+J.&amp;rft.au=Sullivan%2C+J.&amp;rft.au=Banks%2C+R.&amp;rft.au=Fiorentino%2C+I.&amp;rft.au=C%C3%B3rdoba-C%C3%B3rdoba%2C+S.&amp;rft.au=Echeverry-Galvis%2C+M.&amp;rft.au=Barker%2C+F.&amp;rft.au=Burns%2C+K.&amp;rft.au=Klicka%2C+J.&amp;rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CEvolutionary+Biology%2C+Taxonomy%2C+Zoology">Lovette, I., Pérez-Emán, J., Sullivan, J., Banks, R., Fiorentino, I., Córdoba-Córdoba, S., Echeverry-Galvis, M., Barker, F., Burns, K., &amp; Klicka, J. (2010). A comprehensive multilocus phylogeny for the wood-warblers and a revised classification of the Parulidae (Aves) <span style="font-style: italic;">Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution</span> DOI: <a rev="review" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2010.07.018">10.1016/j.ympev.2010.07.018</a></span><br /><br />Perez-Eman JL (2005) Molecular phylogenetics and biogeography of the Neotropical redstarts (Myioborus; Aves, Parulinae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 37:511-528</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Sangster G (2008a) A new genus for the waterthrushes (Parulidae). Bulletin of the British Ornithological Club 128:212-215.<br /><br />Sangster G (2008b) A revision of Vermivora (Parulidae) with the description of a new genus. Bulletin of the British Ornithological Club 128:207-211.</span>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-wood-warbler-taxonomy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (slybird)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-4340979864048249375Sun, 22 Aug 2010 03:41:00 +00002010-08-28T20:49:23.305-05:00BirdsChurchillQuizDiabolical Shorebird Chick Quiz<span style="font-weight: bold;">*Spoiler Alert!!! Answers are now posted below in comments section*</span><br /><br />Inspired by the Diabolical Quiz series on <a href="http://10000birds.com/">10,000 Birds</a>, I have created a Diabolical Shorebird Chick Quiz, using photos I took of all the various shorebird chicks I found this season in Churchill, MB. Also included in this quiz are a few non-shorebird chicks. A final hint... some chicks are repeats, so some species will be used more than once... Answers will follow shortly... good luck!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">1.<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5713.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5713.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />2.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5745.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5745.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>3.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5637.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5637.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>4.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3376.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3376.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>5.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5789.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5789.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>6.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5948.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5948.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>7.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2959.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2959.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>8.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2843.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2843.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>9.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5840.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5840.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>10.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5761.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5761.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>11.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2670.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2670.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>12.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2753.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2753.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>13.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5999.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5999.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>14.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_6016.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_6016.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>15.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5986.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5986.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></div>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/08/diabolical-shorebird-chick-quiz.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-6836586575420695499Thu, 05 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +00002010-08-04T21:22:59.605-05:00Bird of the DayBirdsChurchillMigrationResearchThe Hudsonian Godwits of ChurchillAfter all of the posts about Churchill that I've written, I realized that I've written very little about the bird that has taken me here for the past two summers: the Hudsonian Godwit, <span style="font-style: italic;">Limosa haemastica</span>. The Hudsonian Godwit is a mid to large sized shorebird, and is a well known long-distance migrant. The godwits' breeding distribution is still not entirely understood, but is known to be found in isolated pockets across the sub-arctic and arctic of Canada and Alaska. They typically breed in fens, bogs, and marshes with abundant sedge cover as well as a few trees (such as Larch, <span style="font-style: italic;">Larix laricina</span> and spruces, <span style="font-style: italic;">Picea sp.</span>) and shrubs (in Churchill, mostly Dwarf Birch, <span style="font-style: italic;">Betula glandulosa</span>). Hudsonian Godwits are particularly famous for their long-distance migration, which takes the birds from Churchill first to staging grounds around James Bay. From there, many godwits make a direct flight from James Bay south to South America, perhaps stopping off for a day or two somewhere in the Amazon before finally making it to the southern coast of Argentina and Tierra del Fuego. Godwits that breed in Alaska winter mostly on the island of Chiloe. On the northward journey, godwits again make very long flights, some flying all the way from Argentina to Texas and Nebraska before stopping.<br /><br />In Churchill, godwits typically return to the area sometime between May 20 and May 25, however there can be variation in this depending on local conditions. For example, the first godwits in 2009 did not show up until June 3, and even then were restricted to a limited number of locations due to snow conditions. In a typical year, after the birds arrive, males usually spend almost a week establishing territories and displaying. Its during this period when we start walking through the breeding grounds, looking for returning birds from previous years, and getting an idea of where territories are so we know where to look for nests.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5123.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5123.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5122.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5122.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Upon arrival, godwits will hang around, perhaps going to areas where they will later breed. In these pictures, a female Hudsonian Godwit is loafing around the Fen with a Short-billed Dowitcher<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5297.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5297.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">In addition to inspecting the breeding grounds, godwits also spend a lot of time feeding when they first arrive. Often they will feed in areas close to their future territories. This male, feeding in a roadside pool, later nested about 300 meters away in the marsh.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5135.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5135.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">During the first week or so after arrival, male godwits spend a lot of time displaying and setting up territories. This male, banded 2 years ago is seen here displaying in the top of a tree. The display flight of godwits consist of a slow, "butterfly-like" flight over their territories, calling consistently "god-wit, god-wit, god-wit."<br /></span></div><br />Beginning sometime during the first week of June, godwits will begin nesting. During the summer of 2008, the first nest was found June 5, while this year, the first nest was found June 8. In any particular year, most nesting is fairly synchronous, and within about a week, most birds that are nesting will be on eggs. Incubation of eggs does not begin full time until a full clutch (usually of 4) is laid, although males will incubate sporadically even when two eggs are laid. Males incubate for the entire day after the last egg is laid, while females feed. After that first day, males and females share incubation tasks, with females typically incubating during the day, and males incubating at night (although there is considerable variation in this schedule).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5607.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5607.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">A Hudsonian Godwit nest with a full clutch of 4 eggs. While 4 eggs is the maximum clutch size, and also the most typical, complete clutches of 3, and occasionally 2 eggs are also laid. If a godwit renests after losing the eggs to a predator, the replacement clutch is more frequently smaller.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5604.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5604.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Female Hudsonian Godwit incubating eggs. Godwits are very reluctant to flush from their nest, which can make nests particularly difficult to find. Their cryptic coloration allows them to hide incredibly well among the sedges.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5653.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5653.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Female godwit sitting very tight on her nest.</span><br /><br /></div>After about 17 or so days of incubation, the eggs begin to get star cracks, which are the first signs of hatching. The appearance of star cracks usually indicate that the eggs are within 3 or 4 days of hatch. The day before hatch, the chicks begin to pip the eggs, making small holes in the wider end of the egg. Hatching of all the eggs occurs on the same day, although there can be several hours delay between the first and last chick hatching. Oftentimes, the first chicks to hatch will disperse from the nest site by the time the last chick hatches. During this entire period, both adults stay very close to the nest, and incubating birds sit very tight on the nest, and are very reluctant to flush from the nest. Since chicks leave the nest only a couple of hours after hatch, it is very important for us to get to the nest at hatch if we want to band all the chicks. Otherwise, it can be very, very difficult to find all of the chicks of a brood once they have dispersed.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5660.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5660.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">A godwit nest that is getting very close to hatching. If you look closely, all the eggs have fine "star-cracks" around the wide end of the egg.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5658.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5658.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">A detail of "star-cracks" on an egg.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5640.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5640.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">A godwit chick in the final stages of hatching. This particular chick hatched right in front of us while we were banding his siblings, which had already hatched. It was quite incredible.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5693.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5693.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Recently hatched godwit chick, this bird is still not completely dry.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_6007.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_6007.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Hudsonian Godwit chick that is less than one day old. It's difficult to see, but this chick has a tiny radio transmitter on his back, which we use to track them as they grow. This allows us to determine what habitats they use to feed in, how far they wander, and also check survival.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5682.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5682.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5681.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5681.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">When chicks are very young, the parent godwits are very aggressive. This pair was constantly attacking us and yelling at us while we were banding their newly hatched chicks. Notice the white flags on the legs of each of these birds, as well as a plastic color band beneath the flag. The orange color band on the male indicates that he was first banded in 2009, while the blue color band indicates this female was banded this year. Also note the brightness of this female, compared with the female pictured in the first 2 pictures of the post. </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5684.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5684.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Male Hudsonian Godwit brooding his recently hatched chicks while we finish banding the last of the brood.</span><br /></div><br />After hatch, chicks and adults wander very far from the original territory. Just three days after hatching, we tracked one family over 2 kilometers from the original nest site. Parents stay with the chicks until they can fly, which is about 24 days after hatching. Females may leave before the chicks are fledged, but males stay with the chicks. Parents will defend their chicks vigorously against predators, and will brood them for the first several days after hatching, but do not feed them.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5956.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5956.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5959.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5959.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">A godwit chick that is about 2 weeks old. Notice the wing feathers which are in pin, and the back feathers which have come in on this bird. </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_6029.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_6029.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_6023.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_6023.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">A 3-week old godwit chick. Notice the wing feathers are growing in nicely, and have already started breaking out of their sheaths. This is likely the latest age that we can capture godwit chicks, since after this they run too fast. </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_6032.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_6032.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">A 3-week old godwit chick running away from us after we banded it. In another 5 days, this godwit chick will be able to fly. At 26 days after hatching, godwit chicks are able to fledge. It is at this point when the adults leave the chicks.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;">After fledging at about 26 days after hatch, godwit chicks are completely on their own. Adult birds leave the chicks once they have fledged. Adults will continue to the staging grounds around James Bay, and the chicks will remain around Churchill for a little while longer before continuing to James Bay. If all goes well, 2 years from now, we will see "EC" return to Churchill. Young birds will spend their first "summer" on the non-breeding grounds in South America.<br /><br />To see pictures of Hudsonian Godwits on their winter grounds in South America, see my posts from Chile, where I was able to see and catch some godwits.<br /></div></div>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/08/hudsonian-godwits-of-churchill.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-4437823468421601083Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:50:00 +00002010-07-21T14:50:00.457-05:00BirdsChileResearchCannon Netting*One of the only ways to catch large numbers of shorebirds away from the breeding grounds is to use cannon nets.<span style=""> </span>Cannon nets are exactly what they sound like.<span style=""> </span>They are nets that are propelled by small cannons.<span style=""> </span>While I was in Chile, I learned the basics of cannon netting, and in the process, realized that it is difficult, and whether or not a firing is successful depends a lot on luck.<span style=""> </span>Cannon netting requires a bit of reconnaissance work, namely to figure out where the high tide roost sites for the target birds are.<span style=""> </span>Once that key piece of information is acquired, the team can then proceed to set the net up the next day.<span style=""> </span>Now, because birds are caught on their roost site, it is necessary to set the net up well before high tide, which often means setting it up at low tide, when the birds are dispersed, so that we have enough time to hide before birds are considering roosting. <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Step 1: </b>So, the first step of cannon netting is to set the net and the cannons up.<span style=""> </span>This step is fairly straight forward, although the exact placement of the cannons does certainly require an experienced eye.<span style=""> </span>The placement of the net is also important, because if the net isn’t in the right place, then it may turn out that no birds end up in the catch area.<span style=""> </span>Now, the catch area is an area that is about 30 ft. by 30 ft., so the margin of error is quite small.<span style=""> </span>Anyway, to set the net up, first, we need to dig a shallow trench to place the net in.<span style=""> </span>It was important to make sure the leading edge of the net was on top, otherwise it wouldn’t fire properly.<span style=""> </span>Next, we needed to dig the holes for the cannons, and attach the ropes of the nets to the projectiles of the cannons.<span style=""> </span>Okay, now the net and the cannons are set up.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4226.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4226.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">The net trench is dug, and now the net can be laid out in the shallow trench.</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4233.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4233.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4239.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4239.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">One of the two cannons that are placed at either end of the net. Here, the bottom is wrapped in several plastic bags to prevent them from getting wet</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4240.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4240.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Step 2:</b> The next important step of cannon netting is to disguise the net.<span style=""> </span>I enjoyed this part, because, if done right, the net and cannons should be almost invisible.<span style=""> </span>Some sites were far easier to camouflage than others, and for some sites, we got quite creative.<span style=""> </span>Now, this wasn’t as easy as just piling seaweed and algae on top of the net… the layer of cover had to be thin and light, so as to not weigh the net down and hinder firing (we actually made this mistake once).<span style=""> </span>If all goes well, there should be very little evidence of the net area.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4283.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4283.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4382.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4382.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Adding sedge clumps to further hide the net.</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4284.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4284.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4465.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4465.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Step 3: </b>The next step is to wait.<span style=""> </span>And wait some more.<span style=""> </span>Usual wait times ranged from 3-6 hours… it all depended on how fast the birds began piling into the roost area.<span style=""> </span>This part was both boring, fun, depressing, and stressful.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4428.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4428.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4303.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4303.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Step 4: </b>The second to last step of cannon netting is probably one of the most important.<span style=""> </span>It involves twinkling and jiggling.<span style=""> </span>Now I don’t know where these names came from, but they are fun to say.<span style=""> </span>Twinkling is to gently push birds toward the catch area.<span style=""> </span>Sometimes this involved flushing birds from an alternate roost site farther down the beach in hopes that they would move to the roost site where the net was set.<span style=""> </span>Other times, it would involve trying to gently push birds a few meters to try and position them better in the net area.<span style=""> </span>Regardless, twinkling was important, as its success often dictated how many birds ended up in the catch area.<span style=""> </span>When twinkling failed, it usually means birds flushed and flew away and didn’t come back.<span style=""> </span>Jiggling is usually the last step before actually firing.<span style=""> </span>Jiggling is done by jiggling the jiggler.<span style=""> </span>The jiggler is a small rope about 2 meters in front of where the net is set up.<span style=""> </span>The point of jiggling the jiggler is to get birds out of the zone 2 meters in front of the net.<span style=""> </span>Those two meters are called the “danger zone.”<span style=""> </span>The “danger zone” is the area in front of the net where birds could be injured by the net.<span style=""> </span>So, by jiggling the jiggler, one was able to safely and effectively move birds out of the “danger zone” without making all the birds in the capture zone fly.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4308.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4308.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">The flock is in place...</span><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Step 5:</b> 3….2…1… FIRE!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4316.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4316.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Step 6:</b> Run like hell to the net to get birds out (if it is a “wet catch,” where birds are caught in the net in the water, you run like hell faster).<span style=""> </span>After removing birds from under the net, they are placed in keeping cages, which are simple cages that are set up to keep birds in and keep them calm.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4317.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4317.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4318.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4318.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">While removing birds from under the net, we would cover the net with a dark tarp to keep them calm. Birds would then be placed in the keeping cages, where they would wait to be banded.</span><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Step 7:</b> Process birds as fast as possible.<span style=""> </span>Now, when there is the potential of catching up to 200 birds in a catch, this sounds easier than it actually is.<span style=""> </span>Birds that we caught would get a metal band, a color band (indicating the year it was caught), and a unique color flag with a code on it (the color of the flag indicates the location it was banded: red is for Chile, orange for Argentina, green for Alaska, and white for Churchill).<span style=""> </span>Birds would be checked for their molt condition, have their bills, head length, and tarsus length measured, and some would have blood taken for later genetic work.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4340.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4340.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4349.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4349.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">The assembly line of godwit banding. This would ensure that we could process at peak efficiency.</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4344.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4344.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Step 8:</b> Release birds!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4359.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4359.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal">*No birds were harmed during our stay in Chile while cannon netting</p>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/07/cannon-netting.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-6534339495899987062Mon, 19 Jul 2010 01:34:00 +00002010-07-18T20:34:00.364-05:00BirdsChurchillResearchChurchill Teaser 2010As some of you know, I have been back in Churchill, MB for the past couple of months, working once again with Hudsonian Godwits. Unlike last year, the godwits are having a good year, with lots of chicks around to follow. As I am quite behind on posts, I will give you just a teaser of what I've been seeing. In addition to future posts on the 2010 Churchill field season, also look for the conclusion of posts from my adventures with godwits in Chile.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5135.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5135.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Hudsonian Godwit male, perched atop a tree. This bird is a bird that was banded two years ago in Churchill. It's flag and data logger have since fallen off.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5771.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5771.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Parasitic Jaeger chicks... cute, no?</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5710.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_5710.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Whimbrel chick</span><br /></div>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/07/churchill-teaser-2010.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-8792571216141972156Fri, 16 Jul 2010 01:40:00 +00002010-07-15T20:40:00.361-05:00BirdsChileCover Your Ass!Tapaculo has got to be one of the best bird names ever.<span style=""> </span>In Spanish, “tapaculo” literally translates to “cover your ass.”<span style=""> </span>Tapaculos are so named for their habit of having their tails cocked, thus exposing, their, well, ass. <p class="MsoNormal">Tapaculos are in the family Rhinocryptidae (so named for the fleshy covering on their nostrils, leading to the “hidden nose”).<span style=""> </span>They are sub-oscines, and are found from souther Central America south to southern South America, found in a wide variety of habitats. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Chile has some of the greatest tapaculos in t he world, with some incredibly charismatic, large, showy species, including the Moustached Turca (<i style="">Pteroptochos megapodius</i>), Black-throated Huet-huet (<i style="">Pteroptochos tarnii</i>), White-throated Tapaculo (<i style="">Scelorchilus albicollis</i>), and Chucao Tapaculo (<i style="">Scelorchilus rubecula</i>).<span style=""> </span>In total, Chile is home to 8 species of tapaculo, including two <i style="">Scytalopus</i>, a second species of Huet-huet, and the Ochre-flanked Tapaculo (<i style="">Eugralla paradoxa</i>).<span style=""> </span>Where I would be in Chile, only 4 species occurred, and I had hopes of only seeing two, at most.<span style=""> </span>Sadly, the Turca, a Chilean endemic, is found farther north near Santiago, so that’s a bird that will have to wait for my next trip.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">On my first full day in Chile, I had already heard 3 of the 4 species that were possible in the area, so I already thought I was off to a good start.<span style=""> </span>This also included a relatively close encounter with an Ochre-flanked that just refused to show himself.<span style=""> </span>After a few more days, I finally at least heard a huet-huet.<span style=""> </span>However, it wasn’t until nearly 2 weeks into the trip that I finally saw my first tapaculo, a Chucao.<span style=""> </span>I was ecstatic, since this bird came out of the bamboo, watched us, foraged on the trail, watched us some more, climbed up onto a branch, and yelled at us, all without any provocation from playback.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The next tapaculo that would show itself was a Magellanic Tapaculo, the only <i style="">Scytalopus</i> in the area.<span style=""> </span>This first Magellanic I had to coax out of the bushes with some playback, which he did not appreciate.<span style=""> </span>As payment, he pooped on my computer.<span style=""> </span>Later that evening, I had another thrilling encounter with several Chucao Tapaculos, including a pair that was dueting trailside, which Nate and I were able to get a recording of.<span style=""> </span>It isn’t something I was expecting, but Chucaos are incredibly loud birds, and when they decide to call next to you, it is startling.<span style=""> </span>I found that they were also very curious birds, and if they were close enough, they would come out of the bushes to investigate you, often providing superb views.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">On our first day off, Nate and I and a couple of other friends went on a trip to the north of the island and checked out La Senda Darwin Biological Station.<span style=""> </span>At the station, there are some trails going through some remnant patches of second growth forest, some swallow boxes, and, apparently, enough habitat for a pair of Black-throated Huet-huets, which found my pathetic attempt at whistling offensive, and they decided to yell at me and give me some views.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">On the last couple of days of our trip, Nate and I went to Parque Nacional Puyehue, a beautiful national park about 2 hours outside of Puerto Montt, which covers some great old growth <i style="">Nothofagus</i> forest on the west slope of the Andes.<span style=""> </span>While I will recount our fun in Puyehue in more detail later, I will share the relevant details about tapaculos here.<span style=""> </span>First off, we got to see several of our last species, Ochre-flanked Tapaculo at close range, without playback.<span style=""> </span>Now, while Ochre-flanked doesn’t have spectacular plumage, it is still quite an interesting bird, and has a very oddly shaped head and bill.<span style=""> </span>In addition to seeing 3 Ochre-flanked, we also had a total count of ~60 Chucao, ~40 Magellanic, and 20 Ochre-flanked Tapaculos, with perhaps 8 Black-throated Huet-huets.<span style=""> </span>Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but I was shocked at the tapaculo density here, and just had a blast.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Now, enjoy these few pictures of my first fun experiences with the Rhinocryptidae!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4700.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4700.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4265.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4265.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Chucao Tapaculo (<i style="">Scelorchilus rubecula)</i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4537.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4537.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Black-throated Huet-huet (<i style="">Pteroptochos tarnii)</i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4659.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4659.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Magellanic Tapaculo (<span style="font-style: italic;">Scytalopus magellanicu</span>s)<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4827.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4827.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Ochre-flanked Tapaculo (<i style="">Eugralla paradoxa)</i></span><span style="font-size:85%;">... can't you tell? Somewhere in this picture is an Ochre-flanked Tapaculo, honest! Actually, I can't even find it for certain in the photo. For a good picture of an Ochre-flanked Tapaculo, click <a href="http://www.arthurgrosset.com/sabirds/ochre-flankedtapaculo.html">here</a>.</span><br /></p>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/07/cover-your-ass.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-7700933983392692283Sun, 27 Jun 2010 20:15:00 +00002010-06-27T15:15:00.537-05:00BirdingBirdsChileResightingNow, one of the main goals of the project in Chile is to get baseline values for the suvivorship of both Hudsonian Godwits and Whimbrels. This is a task that is far easier on their wintering grounds, because it is where large numbers gather in regular locations where they can be (relatively) easily studied. <p class="MsoNormal">When we got to Chile this year, one of the first things that we needed to do was to find where the birds were.<span style=""> </span>Once we did that, we started looking for birds that had already been caught and banded in previous winters in Chile.<span style=""> </span>Typically, Whimbrels are easier to resight, partly because wintering Whimbrels are very sight faithful, and will return to the same sight winter after winter, so all one has to do is return to the sight where the birds were caught.<span style=""> </span>Whimbrels are also bigger, and sport larger leg flags, and are thus easier to read.<span style=""> </span>Godwits, on the other hand, are not as site faithful, and there are more likely to be many thousands more godwits in any one place.<span style=""> </span>In addition, godwit leg flags are smaller and harder to read.<span style=""> </span>However, there are also more tagged godwits out there, which makes finding more of them easier.<span style=""> </span>Resighting is important because it helps to establish suvivorship rates over the years (this is the fifth year that this project has been going in Chile).</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4359.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4359.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Recently flagged Hudsonian Godwit. Can you read the alpha code on the red flag?</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4808.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4808.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">A mixed flock of Hudsonian Godwits, Surfbirds, Brown-hooded Gulls, and Franklin's Gulls. </span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4031.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4031.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Nathan searching for flagged godwits at Putemun.</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4101.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4101.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Hudsonian Godwit footprints. Here, they flew away before I could get close enough to read any flags.</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4098.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4098.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Pullao, one of my favorite places that we searched for godwits and Whimbrel</span><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">During our time on Chiloe, we had several key sites that we visited several times, all around the area of Castro (the capital of Chiloe).<span style=""> </span>These sites included Putemun (which was a large estuary behind the cabañas where we were staying, and also my least favorite place, due to its muck), Pullao (where we spent a lot of time resighting and catching birds), Rílan, and Curaco (both of these two sites were on a smaller island, Quinchao, which is accessible by ferry from the town of Dalcahue).</p> Resighting was both fun and frustrating.<span style=""> </span>While frustrating due to the difficulty in reading flags, it was also fun, because it brought me to new sites and I got to watch birds for hours on end.<span style=""> </span>While there wasn’t a great diversity of birds at these sites, it was always awesome to see large numbers of godwits and whimbrel, as well as the assorted other birds that were found here.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4250.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4250.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">A flock of assorted gulls. In this flock, the three common gull species are present, which include Brown-hooded Gulls, Franklin's Gulls, and Kelp Gulls<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4507.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4507.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Black-faced Ibis<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4540.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4540.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">A flock of Black Skimmers loafing on a mud flat</span><br /></div>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/06/resighting.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-4842544530479473417Sun, 06 Jun 2010 03:52:00 +00002010-06-05T22:52:00.038-05:00BirdsChileResearchSome Summer in WinterIn mid January, I left the cold, snowy Ithaca winter for somewhat warmer climes. For the rest of the month, I would be working with Nathan Senner, among other researchers, studying Whimbrels and Hudsonian Godwits. Our main goals over the course of the next three weeks would be to resight birds that were caught and banded in previous years in Chile, catch new birds to band, and try to find birds that Nathan caught in Alaska the summer before. Now, this may not sound to hard, but consider, the wintering population of Hudsonian Godwits on Chiloe, the place in Chile where we would be working, is roughly 8,000, with many thousands of Whimbrels as well. Finding where the large flocks gather, and then finding birds that have been flagged in years past is not always an easy task.<br /><br />Most of our work would be done out of Chiloe, a large island that you can reach by a short ferry ride from the mainland. Keep in mind, this island is large… larger than Long Island in New York, for example. Chiloe is a unique island. Unlike most of the rest of Chile (the area around Puerto Montt is a huge exception), Chiloe has bays with large mudflats. These mudflats attract large numbers of godwits.<br /><br />Chiloe is a beautiful place, and is full of small scale farms, pastures, hills, patches of woodland, bays, and beaches. The people are friendly, the food is great, and the weather was perfect. Many of the churches around Chiloe are also UNESCO World Heritage Sites. While they may not look like much from the outside, these churches were stunning inside, and had beautiful woodwork. Chiloe is also well known for its aquaculture. All of the bays and estuaries where we would look for birds also had a lot of aquaculture, where shellfish like muscles, oysters, and clams were farmed, and where salmon were farmed. Another activity around these mudflats was algae collecting. Many people living along the coast would harvest algae from these mudflats to later be sold. Aside from being unsustainable in many bays, the human, truck, and dog activity associated with algae collectors often had serious impacts on shorebird numbers in these locations. Finding a middle ground between poor algae collectors, the lucrative profits of aquaculture, and conservation is turning out to be very difficult, and is another discussion entirely.<br /><br />For now, enjoy these pictures of the beauty and scenery of Chiloe!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4019.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4019.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">A ferry ride from the mainland to Chiloe<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4032.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4032.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Tracks across the mud in search of godwits<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4274.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4274.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">View of a beach where godwits like to roost<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4648.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4648.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">View of the bay from our cabin</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4712.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4712.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Lots of aquaculture in the bay</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4028.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4028.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4518.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4518.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">The countryside of Chiloe</span><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4118.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4118.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4119.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4119.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">One of the many churches that are scattered around Chiloe</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4830.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4830.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Not on Chiloe, but a view of some montane habitat on the western edge of the Andes</span><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal"></p> <!--EndFragment-->http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/06/some-summer-in-winter.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (slybird)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-5295732011411869416Sun, 23 May 2010 16:31:00 +00002010-05-23T11:50:15.262-05:00Return to the Great White NorthWell, tomorrow I leave again for Churchill, to continue with work on Hudsonian Godwits. I will try and make somewhat regular postings, instead of waiting for an entire year to compose my posts. Also up and coming on the blogging schedule are my posts from my trip to Chile in January, where we went to study Hudsonian Godwits on their wintering grounds. As a sneak peek of that trip, enjoy these few pictures!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4090.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4090.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">View of Pullao, on Chiloe Island, where many Hudsonian Godwits like to feed and roost</span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4359.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4359.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Hudsonian Godwit just after being released. Notice the small red flag on its leg. This tells us it was banded in Chile</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4700.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4700.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Chucao Tapaculo, a very common bird in the temperate rainforest and forested areas of Chile</span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4563.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Chile/IMG_4563.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Magellanic Penguins, at the Puñihuil Penguinera, Chiloe</span></div>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/05/return-to-great-white-north.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-8024626577832094863Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:01:00 +00002010-04-02T20:12:46.543-05:00ChurchillMammalsChurchill: Polar Bear Capital of the WorldFor a long time, I have wanted to go to Churchill for birds. Between the prospect of seeing Ross' Gulls, and all the nesting shorebirds, Churchill always seemed to me a place where the tundra was accessible place than say, Alaska (probably due to my east coast bias). But while this place has been on my radar for its birds, Churchill is perhaps far more famous for it other wildlife. Enter the big mammals (particularly the big white mammals).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1626.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1626.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Caribou. While not abundant around Churchill, if you spend enough time, you will see some.<br /></span></div><br />Starting in June, when the mouth of the Churchill River opens up, hundreds of Beluga Whales arrive. The whales move into the river not only to feed, but to breed. It is a spectacular sight, seeing that many whales in one place. The whales stay around the mouth of the river until late August or so, when they disperse and head farther north. During this time, a lot of people come to Churchill to see the whales. Tour companies take boats out to see the whales, and you can even kayak with them.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2219.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2219.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">That white blotch out there in the water is a Beluga. That's about as good a photo as I got of a living one. I did get better looks at them though.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3219.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3219.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Dead Beluga on the beach.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Of course, the respective stars of the show are the Polar Bears. Churchill is known the world over as being one of the most accessible and reliable places to see Polar Bears. Part of the reason Churchill is such a good place to see bears is because of the geography of the region, and Hudson Bay itself. All of the bears that live on Hudson Bay come ashore in the summer because the Bay completely melts (in other parts of the world, bears will stay on the ice all year long). Bears that come ashore typically don't eat, and so they depend on their fat reserves to get them through the summer. As it gets colder and colder in October and November, bears congregate around Churchill because it is the first place on Hudson Bay that ice forms. As soon as the ice forms, the bears leave the land and go out so they can hunt seals. </span><br /><br />During October and November, Churchill is truly bustling with tourists. People come from all over the world to see the many Polar Bears that gather around Churchill, which are waiting for the ice to form on Hudson Bay. Many people who travel to Churchill to see bears ride around in <a href="http://www.tundrabuggy.com/">Tundra Buggies</a>, which are enormous bus-like structures that ride around on the tundra to get up close and personal with the bears.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3553.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3553.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">The Tundra Buggies<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2726.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2726.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">My first Polar Bear!</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2877.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2877.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">We watched this large male Polar Bear on the ice as it was eating a seal it had just caught. After it finished its meal, it meandered across the ice toward shore. Since the ice was so chunky, he often fell into the water, and would have to climb out.</span><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3445.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3445.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3327.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3327.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3344.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3344.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">A young male bear just wandering around and resting.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3428.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3428.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Two large male bears during a brief disagreement. They shortly went on their way and went to sleep in the rocks</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">While the Polar Bears that we saw were awesome, their presence around Churchill meant that we had to be particularly careful when doing field work. We always had to be vigilant, and carry a shotgun around with us for protection. At the study center, we kept track of all the Polar Bear sightings around the area, so that people doing field work would know whether a bear was spotted in their study area, and can be extra vigilant.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3222.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3222.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">The white board: where we sign out when we leave the Study Centre each day, and where Polar Bear sightings are posted</span><br /></div></div></div>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/03/churchill-polar-bear-capital-of-world.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-2323013036997278370Sun, 21 Mar 2010 02:57:00 +00002010-03-21T09:03:33.810-05:00Babies, Everywhere!**Be warned… this blog post contains pictures of extraordinary cuteness.<br /><br />The title of this post says it all, but, by far, the best part about the field work in Churchill this past summer were all of the chicks (shorebird chicks) we found. In addition to the godwit chicks that we would band and place radio transmitters on for Nate’s study, we also found the chicks of most of the other shorebirds, and many other birds. For this post, I will let the pictures do the talking.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2670.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2670.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Short-billed Dowitcher - the very first chick we found of the summer, it gave us some hope that our godwits would hatch their eggs too.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2751.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2751.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Hudsonian Godwit chicks! They are quite cute, and fluffy, and they have ridiculously big feet. When godwit nests hatched, we would band chicks and take data on them, and place a radio transmitter on one chick per brood to track them through their growth. The transmitters would fall off once contour feathers began to grow in.</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2753.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2753.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Dunlin chick<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2904.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2904.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Least Sandpiper - one of the cuter chicks that we found, and so tiny (as would be expected)<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2843.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2843.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Stilt Sandpiper chick - sorry this shot is so oddly exposed, my camera was misbehaving this day, but you get the idea... it was cute<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2934.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2934.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2959.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2959.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2961.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2961.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2951.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2951.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">One day, we happened upon a hatched nest of American Golden Plovers - mom was nearby, and after taking some pictures, she gathered her babies and brooded them</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3010.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3010.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3016.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3016.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Willow Ptarmigan chick - I particularly like the ptarmigan chick, because, as with the adults, the babies also have feathered feet!<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3376.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3376.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Northern Shoveler - even at a few days old, the babies have already developed the big spatulate bill</span></div>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/03/babies-everywhere_20.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-5339204584333111410Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:20:00 +00002010-03-12T18:20:00.191-05:00ChurchillOrchidsChurchill in BloomThe tundra is a truly beautiful place when it is in flower. Adding to the spectacular show are orchids, tiny shrubs, and an assortment of other wildflowers. While it took a while for everything to start blooming this particular summer because of prolonged cold, once things popped, it was truly breathtaking.<br /><br />One of my favorite plants around Churchill was the Lapland Rosebay (<span style="font-style: italic;">Rhododendron lapponicum</span>), a relative of the large <span style="font-style: italic;">Rhododendron</span> bushes that are planted in gardens across the U.S. This plant is everywhere, and, when it blooms, it covers the ground with its purple blossoms, and fills the air with a wonderful fragrance.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2598.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2598.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2597.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2597.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Detail of <span style="font-style: italic;">Rhododendron lapponicum</span>.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2593.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2593.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Tundra full of blooming <span style="font-style: italic;">Rhododendron.</span> All the purple is flower.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Botanically, Churchill is probably best known for its beautiful orchids. There are many species that can be found there, some only in the boggy boreal forest, some on the tundra, and others in edge habitat. I think I only missed one major orchid while I was there.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3055.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3055.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Small Northern Bog Orchid (<span style="font-style: italic;">Platanthera obtusata</span>) - there are at least two species of <span style="font-style: italic;">Platanthera</span> that look very similar, with differences including general height, and the presence of leaves on the stem. The two <span style="font-style: italic;">Platanthera</span> species were the two most common orchids around Churchill.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3105.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3105.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3109.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3109.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Northern Coralroot (<span style="font-style: italic;">Corallorhiza trifida</span>) - two different individuals. This orchid is neat because it is saprophytic, which means that it does not produce its own food, and instead sucks its nutrients from the roots of other nearby plants</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3157.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3157.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Northern Twayblade (<span style="font-style: italic;">Listera borealis</span>) - a very rare plant in Churchill, and only known from one location </span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3163.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3163.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3496.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3496.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Round-leafed Orchid (<span style="font-style: italic;">Amerorchis rotundifolia</span>) - one of the more common orchid species around Churchill</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3492.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3492.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3490.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3490.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Franklin's (or Sparrow-Egg) Lady Slipper (<span style="font-style: italic;">Cypripedium passerinum</span>) - one of the larger and showier orchids of Churchill, this species is particularly interesting because it commonly self-fertalizes, which is rare among orchids, many of which have developed elaborate methods to attract pollinators and prevent self-pollinzation.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">In addition to the orchids, there were many other neat plants around Churchill, some of which became very familiar after habitat surveys and vegetation plots that we completed.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2358.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2358.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2312.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2312.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Purple Saxifrage</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> (<span style="font-style: italic;">Saxifraga oppositifolia</span>) - usually the first flower to open on the tundra in the spring</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2437.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2437.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2430.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2430.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Alpine Azalea (<span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search"><span style="font-style: italic;">Loiseleuria procumbens</span>) - not an actual azalea, this very tiny but beautiful flower was uncommon on the tundra, and had a sweet fragrance<br /></span></span></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3123.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3123.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Andromeda (<span style="font-style: italic;">Andromeda poliofolia</span>) - very common, and was in almost every veg. plot we did<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2815.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2815.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Dwarf Labrador Tea </span><span style="font-size:85%;">(<span style="font-style: italic;">Ledum decumbens</span>)</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3030.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3030.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Common Butterwort (<span style="font-style: italic;">Pinguicula vulgaris</span>) - one of two carnivorous plants in Churchill (the other also a butterwort). Bugs get stuck to the leaves, and in some cases, the leaves will curl around the insect, and digest them</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3098.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3098.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Bog Laurel (<span style="font-style: italic;">Kalmia polifolia</span>) - a tiny relative of the much larger shrub, Mountain Laurel, which grows in deciduous forests of the eastern U.S.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3199.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3199.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Snow Willow (<span style="font-style: italic;">Salix nivalis</span>) - a full grown willow at an inch high</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3045.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3045.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Mountain Avens (<span style="font-style: italic;">Dryas integrifolia</span>) - a very common plant, often formed thick mats, which, when blooming, were beautiful, with many of these small, white, daisy-like flowers</span><br /></div></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2809.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2809.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Northern Bilberry (<span style="font-style: italic;">Vaccinium uliginosum</span>)</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3056.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_3056.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Flame-colored Lousewort (<span style="font-style: italic;">Pedicularis flammea</span>)</span><br /></div></div></div>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/03/churchill-in-bloom.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-8912778201124017861Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:25:00 +00002010-03-07T16:32:27.256-05:00BirdingBirdsChurchillResearchNest SearchingBy June 15th or so, the snow finally melted enough to allow godwits to begin nesting. Now, I don’t know what anyone knows of nest searching, but let me tell you, it is not easy. Nest searching for any species requires a lot of time and patience, but searching for godwit nests take this to a whole new level. While most shorebird species flush from their nest while you are still quite a distance away, godwits will not flush from their nest until you are on top of them. And, it is almost impossible to find a godwit on a nest without flushing it. They are extremely cryptic, and their nests are well hidden in the sedge. Sure, you would know that a godwit is nesting nearby, due to a territorial male, and sure, that male will watch you and yell at you, and sure, you can walk transects back and forth for hours, and still not find the nest, <span style="font-style: italic;">unless</span> you walk within less than 5 meters of the nest (some won’t flush until you are ~1 meter away). That being said, finding godwit nests is an exhilarating experience, because you trudge through the sedge marsh for hours, and suddenly this bird explodes into flight at your feet, and begins yelling at you, and lo, there is a nest! The first nest I found, it scared the crap out of me, because I was not expecting that there would actually be a nest near me. I wish I could say that subsequent nests I found did not surprise me as much, but, no, every nest I found, every time that female exploded from the ground at my feet, it scared the crap out of me.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1977.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1977.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2401.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2401.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Two different Hudsonian Godwit nests. The top nest is the first nest we found during the summer of 2009<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2567.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2567.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Okay, now for a test. Where, in this picture, is the godwit sitting on her nest? (see bottom of the post for the answer)<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2574.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2574.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">A male Hudsonian Godwit sitting on his nest. He was a bit easier to see from a distance than most.<br /></span></div><br />While godwit nests may be hard to find, thankfully, the same can't be said for some other species. Although we weren't specifically looking for other nests, the miles of walking we did in prime nesting real estate certainly turned up some pretty neat nests of many other species. Collectively, we found nests of all of the shorebirds that nest in Churchill (except Stilt Sandpiper and Wilson’s Snipe), which include Whimbrels (by far the most common nest we found), Short-billed Dowitcher, Lesser Yellowlegs, Dunlin, Least Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope, and American Golden Plover (Semipalmated Plovers also nest in Churchill, but they nest on the rocky beach areas, not near the sedge, so we didn't find those while looking for godwits).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2206.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2206.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Whimbrel nest. These were easy to find, partly because they were typically in very exposed locations, on the tops of the more barren hummocks.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2265.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2265.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Short-billed Dowitcher nest. These nests were typically in very similar places to godwit nests, hidden very well in at the base of a sedge tussock<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2383.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2383.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2387.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2387.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Least Sandpiper nest. These were <span style="font-style: italic;">tiny</span> (see my foot for reference)! These were a lot of fun to find, and were not usually as hidden as a godwit or a dowitcher, and on drier land. There was usually some overhanging cover.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2675.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2675.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Lesser Yellowlegs nest. We didn't find one of these until we went into the Boreal. This was in open boggy habitat. We found a second one later this day that was fairly exposed in a burn area<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2188.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2188.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">American Golden Plover nest. These were probably my favorite eggs, because of the pattern and contrast in the eggs. There was also quite a bit of variation between nests<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2198.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2198.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">This male American Golden Plover gave up trying to distract us from his nest and just plopped down right on his eggs. Same nest as above.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2578.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2578.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Red-necked Phalarope nest. This nest was fairly exposed, but what was neat here, is that the sedge the nest was built on was clearly woven into a shallow cup, unlike the other species, which just made a cup by clearing away material and stamping a nest site</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2539.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2539.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Dunlin nest. We only ever found one of these, and it was hard to find. It was nestled very tightly into the top of a thick sedge tussock.</span><br /></div><br />Now, don't get the impression that the only birds that nest in Churchill are shorebirds. While they may be some of the stars of the place, there are a lot of other cool birds that nest in the area. In addition to all the shorebird nests we found, we also found Savannah Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Common Redpoll, Canada Goose (lots), Northern Pintail, Long-tailed Duck, Common Eider, Pacific Loon, Willow Ptarmigan, and Arctic Tern nests.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2037.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2037.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Willow Ptarmigan nest. This nest was just started, and nests typically contain many more eggs than this. I never did see a nest with more eggs in it.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2144.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2144.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Arctic Tern nest. If anyone has been near a tern nest, you can imagine that this pair of terns was not happy with our presence.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2251.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2251.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Northern Pintail nest.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2456.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2456.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Long-tailed Duck nest. This nest was nested under a small spruce tree, and, compared to all the other waterfowl nests we saw, very well concealed.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2215.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2215.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Common Eider nest. These eggs were quite a bit bigger than I was expecting.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2288.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2288.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Parasitic Jaeger nest. I have a hard time calling this a "nest" since there is absolutely no attempt at even a depression in the ground. This egg was just plopped right atop a hummock. Jaegers have some incredible distraction displays, and frankly can be a bit frightening when you don't know they're there.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2344.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2344.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Common Redpoll nest. I liked this nest in particular because it was lined with Willow Ptarmigan feathers.<br /><br /></span> <div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;">And now, for the answer to the quiz, here is a close view of the female godwit on her nest. </span><br /></div> <span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2568.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_2568.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">She was hiding behind the small twiggy bush in the lower right hand corner of the picture</span><br /><br /></div>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/03/nest-searching.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-2558779188273943855Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:01:00 +00002010-03-05T11:01:00.118-05:00Bird of the DayBirdingBirdsChurchillPhalaroping Around TownJune 3, 2009: This date marked the first arrival of many shorebird species, including our first Hudsonian Godwits. However, even with the arrival of these birds, almost all of the available nesting habitat remained under snow, and it was clear that it would remain that way for a while yet. It didn’t matter too much to me (yet) however, because I was ecstatic to see my first godwits in breeding plumage (what beautiful birds!). After the first push of shorebirds into the area, things slowed down again for a couple of days.<br /><br />However, some of the strange weather patterns that delayed the return of summer also brought some very special birds into Churchill. For about a week, we were distracted by many Red Phalaropes that were hanging around some of the small patches of water that were open around Churchill. Red Phalaropes are uncommon around the area, and are not seen every year. So, when we saw 20+ over the course of the week, we were thrilled. Not only did we see them, but these phalaropes had no fear of us, and were foraging within feet of us. Here are some of the many pictures I took of the birds:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1267.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1267.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1252.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1252.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1203.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1203.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1059.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1059.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1031.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1031.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1227.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1227.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Red Phalaropes (all female), from various places around Churchill. I particularly like the above image, which shows a bird dunking underwater, in pursuit of some tasty morsel<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_0968.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_0968.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Tom and Jay photograph the Red Phalaropes that swam and foraged feet in front of us.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1273.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1273.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">I was looking almost straight down on this bird, only 6-7 feet away. I particularly like it because you can see their awesome lobed feet</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1783.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1783.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1744.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1744.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Female Red-necked Phalarope. In the top image, you can make out a food particle in its beak, which it has just captured using capillary action (you can see the water still being drawn into its bill)</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1213.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1213.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">All of our phalarope photographing bored Brad, so he took to wandering down the road. On his walk, he found two additional Red Phalaropes.</span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx-7X4-5eCFEyst_Hq3tDMJvTbkAu1w58B5A3PNNsN--83tyTXaYbKFi5V-vL2eMbSKz3J4k87ZBIyYK3CD' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Red Phalarope feeding, spinning in the water to churn up small aquatic invertebrates. You can see the spirals in the water that the phalarope creates by spinning! </span><br /></div>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/03/phalaroping-around-town.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-1500106791041910177Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:10:00 +00002010-03-02T22:06:00.664-05:00Bird of the DayBirdingBirdsConservationThe Ivory Colored Frost LoverSaturday, 20-Feb-2010: Pat Jones, birder from Long Island, discovers an adult Ivory Gull on Lake Champlain, on the Vermont side, while searching the area for a previously reported Northern Hawk Owl. During his trip to the northern reaches of New York, Pat Jones also found an adult male Tufted Duck, in addition to the continuing Northern Hawk Owl, making for an incredible northern New York rarities trifecta.<br /><br />As the reports of the Ivory Gull continued through the following week, schemes began to form for a trip to the northeast corner of New York State. A major winter storm that hit Ithaca Thursday night almost thwarted our attempt. Not wanting a repeat of our first Ivory Gull chase in January of 2009 where we drove through the middle of a blizzard, we watched the weather intently. However, the storm passed, and the roads were cleared by midday on Friday.<br /><br />By Friday afternoon, plans were made to leave Ithaca at 3:30 the following morning. A second group of Ithaca birders left earlier that day, and were able to track down the gull on Friday afternoon.<br /><br />Now, I was going out to dinner with friends the night before, and didn’t get back until late, so I had the bright idea of not sleeping before leaving. That, in the long run, hurt, but, all went well enough. After an early start, Tom, Carolyn and I were on our way, first to pick up Brad, and then to Ausable Point, first to track down the Tufted Duck. Arriving at Ausable Point around 9 AM, we quickly saw the Tufted Duck, pointed out to us by our fellow Ithacans who had found it earlier in the day. Now, I can understand that part of the appeal of Tufted Ducks is that they are a rare bird for us U.S. birders, but I really do enjoy watching them. Their tuft is actually quite loose, and flops around a lot as they swim, turn their head, and dive. When resurfacing, their tuft, initially plastered to their head with water, suddenly springs back out.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4862.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4862.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">My poor attempt at digiscoping the Tufted Duck. In this picture, it is pretty close to center and sleeping. You can pick it out by its black back and clean white sides<br /></span></div><br />After we finished watching the Tufted Duck, we moved on to the Ivory Gull. As soon as we arrived, the dozen or so birders that were already gathered on the jetty pointed out the bird to us. At first, the bird remained quite distant on the ice for quite a long period of time, seemingly content with bathing, preening, sleeping, and pooping. We waited on that break wall for a good 4 hours, with intermittent snow squalls making our vigil particularly painful. But, we were rewarded for our patience, as the bird eventually got hungry, and came into a chicken carcass that was on the ice near the jetty. It fed on the chicken for nearly 45 minutes while we just stared in amazement at its beauty.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4871.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4871.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4873.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4873.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4872.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4872.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Views from the Rouses Point jetty, where we spent close to five hours watching the Ivory Gull. Note the ice fishermen on the ice in the middle picture.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/HappyIvoryGullers.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/HappyIvoryGullers.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Sitting through a brief snow squall while watching the Ivory Gull (photo by Carolyn Sedgwick)</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4888.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4888.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">The Ivory Gull begins to close in on some tasty chicken</span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4928.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4928.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4926.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4926.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">When not feasting on this chicken, this Ivory Gull would pick at fish that the ice fishermen had left out for it<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4939.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4939.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Adult Ivory Gull, Rouses Point, NY.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4953.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4953.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4951.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4951.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Ivory Gull going for a stroll on the ice after gorging on chicken<br /></span></div><br />After we had our fill of the Ivory Gull (not that I can ever tire of that bird), we moved onto the Northern Hawk Owl, which had been spotted earlier in the afternoon after a two-day hiatus, for our final twitch of the day. Again, we were not disappointed, as the bird sat on the side of the road, and at one point caught a vole, which it later cached somewhere. Unfortunately, by that time of day, the light was poor, and my camera refused to cooperate.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4958.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Ivory%20Gulling/IMG_4958.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Northern Hawk Owl, Champlain, NY.<br /></span></div><br />Probably one of my best birding days in New York state (from a rarities perspective), this day was tempered by the thought that this adult Ivory Gull may only be here due to changes in its northern realm. Over the past two winters, an unprecedented number of Ivory Gulls (mostly adult birds, no less) have shown up on the East Coast, one making it as far south as Georgia (roughly 10 birds south of the Canadian border). Typically, vagrant birds are juvenile birds, but the sudden surge of adult vagrants this far south raises questions of the quality of the traditional winter grounds. In the Canadian Arctic, Ivory Gull populations appear to be declining quite rapidly (based on surveys at the breeding colonies), with climate change thought to be one of the primary factors (Mallory et al. 2008). In addition to changes due to climate, Ivory Gulls have been found to have increasing levels of pollutants in their bodies, with high amounts of mercury and other pollutants (<a href="http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html">Birdlife International 2010</a>)<br /><br />For a few more pictures of mine, plus a video of the Ivory Gull feeding, check <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/32045401@N08/">here</a>.<br /><br />For much better pictures of the Ivory Gull and Northern Hawk Owl, check out Tom's pictures <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonxie88/">here</a> and <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/jaegermaster/2010Update1#">here</a>.<br /><br />References:<br /><br />Mallory, Mark L., Iain J. Stenhouse, Grant Gilchrist, Gregory Robertson, J. Christopher Haney and Stewart D. Macdonald. 2008. Ivory Gull (<span style="font-style: italic;" class="genus">Pagophila</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;" class="species">eburnea</span>), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: <a href="http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/175">http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/175</a><br /><p class="MsoNormal"></p> <!--EndFragment-->http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/03/ivory-colored-frost-lover.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2100227705891731973.post-1218989235822238739Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:00:00 +00002010-03-02T22:09:52.821-05:00BirdingBirdsChurchillThe First Two Weeks in Churchill: A Wild Goose ChaseWith a good 3-4 feet of snow on the ground in most places around Churchill, and no shorebirds, we had nothing to do (for work). But, put 4 birders together in Churchill, during the first stages of spring migration, with a car… the only logical thing to do is to go birding! And, for the first two weeks, that is pretty much all we did. It was a really incredible experience watching spring migration from beginning to end in a place like Churchill. The first half of spring migration consisted mainly of waterfowl, and of those waterfowl, most were geese. Hundreds of thousands of Snow, Ross’, Canada, and Cackling Geese passed through the area, with smaller numbers of Greater White-fronted Geese. On one particularly warm, clear day in early June, Brad and I counted over 100,000 Snow and Ross’ Geese fly over one point in under an hour. On some days, Ross’ Geese would outnumber Snow Geese (which, coming from New York, is pretty cool). With so many white geese passing through the area, we were ever vigilant for the mythical “Blue” Ross’ Goose, the dark form of Ross’ Goose which is rarely seen and even more rarely photographed. For several days during the first week of June, we found some interesting candidates, but we determined those to be Snow Goose x Ross’ Goose hybrids. However, on June 5th, or vigilance paid off, and we found a pair of seemingly pure dark Ross’ Geese. It was neat to compare those birds to the Blue Snows and the dark hybrids we were finding. In addition to the Blue Ross', we also found some other interesting oddball geese, such as an apparent Snow x Cackling Goose, and a leucistic Cackling Goose.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_0151.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_0151.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">All five local geese are in this picture... can you find all five?<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_0566.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_0566.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">A mix flock of mostly Ross' and Snow Geese along Goose Creek Road, outside of Churchill. There are also some Northern Pintail in this picture<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_0758.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_0758.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Foraging geese: in this picture, there are Snow, Ross', Canada, and Cackling<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_0883.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_0883.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_0886.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_0886.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">The mythical Blue Ross' Goose: poor digiscope quality, but, you can really pick the one bird out quite easily in the top photo. Both birds are in the bottom photo. It probably helps to click on the picture to get a larger version<br /></span></div><br />With so many <span style="font-style: italic;">Branta</span> geese passing through, of several subspecies, it was a real opportunity to study Canada and Cackling Geese side by side. And what a task it turned out to be. The range of color, shape, and size ran all the way from normal Canada Goose to normal Cackling Goose, and everything in between, to the point that some individuals or even groups of birds were just unable to be identified with confidence.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_0672.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_0672.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">It's tough to pick out, but this picture shows the leucistic Cackling Goose we found. It's ghostly pale, and blends into the snowy background quite well</span><br /></div><br />Due to the extensive snow and ice cover in early June, most of the geese (and most of the birds around, for that matter) were concentrated in relatively few locations, most of which were low lying, near the Churchill River. As a result, most of these locations experienced heavy goose browsing, and were left barren mud flats when the geese left.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_0416.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_0416.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Sandhill Crane hanging out with some Cackling and Canada Geese. There are a few pairs of cranes that nest around Churchill, and during migration, we would get some decent flocks (100-200 birds) around town<br /></span></div><br />As a consequence of a late spring and summer, the Snow Geese that nest around La Perouse Bay, about 30 kilometers east of Churchill, failed. Nests were initiated over a week later than the latest date on record, and many had to be placed in sub-optimal locations due to high water levels. This left goose nests far more susceptible to predation, and by July, most, if not all goose nests had been depredated. Geese farther south, however, along James Bay, had a far more successful year, as did geese elsewhere in the Arctic.<br /><br />By the end of the second week of June, almost all of the Snow, Ross', Cackling, and White-fronted Geese had departed the Churchill area, and all that was left were the breeding Canada Geese.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1642.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Shawn/Churchill/IMG_1642.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">One of the last groups of Greater White-fronted Geese we saw for the spring</span></div>http://slybird.blogspot.com/2010/03/first-two-weeks-in-churchill-wild-goose.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Shawn)0